The Rise of Electoral Management Bodies: Diffusion and Effects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Langford ◽  
Rebecca Schiel ◽  
Bruce M. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Management Bodies

Risk Management in Elections: A Guide for Electoral Management Bodies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Vincent ◽  
Sead Alihodzic ◽  
Stephen Gale
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Incomplete Information ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Risk Awareness ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
Risk Management Framework ◽  
Electoral Cycle ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Electoral Management Bodies

When electoral risks are not understood and addressed, they can undermine the credibility of the process and the results it yields. Electoral management bodies (EMBs) encounter numerous risks across all phases of the electoral cycle. They operate in environments that are increasingly complex and volatile and where factors such as technology, demographics, insecurity, inaccurate or incomplete information and natural calamities, create increasing uncertainty. The experiences of EMBs show that when formal risk management processes are successfully implemented, the benefits are profound. Greater risk awareness helps organizations to focus their resources on where they are most needed, thus achieving cost-effectiveness. Over the last decade it has been observed that EMBs are increasingly moving from informal to formal risk management processes. The purpose of this Guide is to lay out a set of practical steps for EMBs on how to establish or advance their risk management framework. The Guide’s chapters reflect the breadth of key considerations in the implementation process and offer basic resources to assist in the process.

Institutions for Protecting Constitutional Democracy: An Analytic Framework, with Special Reference to Electoral Management Bodies

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Mark Tushnet
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
Specific Function ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
General Rules ◽  
Electoral Management Bodies

Constitutional theory dating to Montesquieu identified three branches of government, each with a specific function: the legislature enacted general rules, the executive enforced the rules, and the judiciary resolved disputes about the rules’ meaning and application. Every government had to have these branches in some form; that is, the branches were necessary elements in a governance structure. In addition, the branches were exhaustive: that is, taken together they did everything a government could do.

scholarly journals Electoral Processes: Navigating and Emerging from Crisis (Global State of Democracy Thematic Paper 2021)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Global State ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
Orderly Transition ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Electoral Management Bodies

Elections that take place regularly and provide for the orderly transition of power from one elected government to another are the cornerstone of democratic governance and political stability. During 2020–2021, the Covid-19 pandemic profoundly affected the conduct and integrity of elections worldwide. This paper notes a decline in clean elections across both democratic and non-democratic (hybrid and authoritarian) regimes that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. At the same time, there are important cases of electoral resilience displayed by democratic institutions and civil society. The paper offers policy recommendations for national governments, parliaments, electoral management bodies and international development organizations, and makes forward-looking conclusions.

scholarly journals Building impartial electoral management? Institutional design, independence and electoral integrity

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolien van Ham ◽  
Holly Ann Garnett
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Reform Measure ◽  
Conflicting Evidence ◽  
The World ◽  
Transitional Democracies ◽  
Budgetary Control ◽  
Electoral Management Bodies

Electoral integrity is a persistent concern in both established and transitional democracies. Independent Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) have been championed as a key institutional reform measure to strengthen electoral integrity and are now the most common model of electoral management worldwide. Yet, empirical research has found conflicting evidence on the link between formal EMB independence and electoral integrity. We argue that conflicting findings might be driven by the lack of detailed data on EMB institutional design, with most studies using rudimentary classifications of ‘independent’, ‘governmental’ and ‘mixed’ EMBs, without addressing specific dimensions of EMB formal independence such as appointment procedures, budgetary control and formal competences. In this paper we analyse new detailed data on EMB institutional design in 72 countries around the world, develop a more detailed typology of dimensions of de jure EMB independence, and demonstrate how de jure EMB independence affects de facto EMB independence and electoral integrity.

scholarly journals Better workers, better elections? Electoral management body workforces and electoral integrity worldwide

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby S James
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Human Resource Management ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Employee Outcomes ◽  
Human Resource Management Practices ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Electoral Management Bodies ◽  
Cross National

Building better elections is a central task for the study of democracy and democratisation. Despite this, there have been no cross-national studies on the staff who manage and implement elections: electoral management body (EMB) workforces. This article provides the first macroscopic worldwide picture of workforce characteristics, human resource management practices and employee outcomes, and analyses the effects they have on electoral integrity, based on original international surveys of electoral management bodies (EMBs) ( n = 51) and electoral officials ( n = 2029). Drawing from the human resource management literature, a framework is developed to explain how these factors might interact with EMB performance. Analysis demonstrates them to be highly related. Adding data on human resource management practices and employee outcomes improves explanatory models designed to predict the performance of EMBs. Chiefly, EMBs that enable greater opportunities for employees to be involved in decision-making processes perform better. Recruitment practices, job satisfaction and levels of stress are also important.

scholarly journals Behavioural models of electoral management: A world survey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abul Azad
Keyword(s):  
Political Institution ◽  
Electoral Outcome ◽  
The World ◽  
World Survey ◽  
Election Commission ◽  
Electoral Management Bodies

<i>Democratisation has continued in the world, but many newly emerged democracies have still been struggling with a lack of electoral integrity. Intending to dealing with the lacking, traditional studies, have focused on Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs), such as Bangladesh Election Commission, while the election time government or, in other words, electoral government as a unique political institution has so far been unresearched. This paper sheds new light on this tradition by introducing the concept of electoral government and explaining how an electoral government shapes the electoral management and influence the electoral outcome. It commissions and uses a world survey and comes up with a set of behavioural models of electoral management.</i>

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