The list of books from current and former Democracy and Governance students and faculty make for terrific gifts for anyone interested in electoral reform, international development, post-communism, and politics more broadly. We hope you enjoy, and have a lovely holiday season!!
Elections
The fragile consensus among much of the international community toward pushing for national elections in Haiti this calendar year is not matched by the political reality on the ground.
“Gerrymandering: The Politics of Redistricting in the United States,” authored by Franklin & Marshall College’s Prof. Stephen K. Medvic, offers a timely, compact, and nuanced assessment of redistricting’s impact in the United States.
Daniel Brumberg, Director of Democracy and Governance Studies at Georgetown University. With Super Tuesday upon us, I am […]
Avram Reisman [Featured Image: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R), Defence Minister Ehud Barak (C) and Chief of […]
By Ben Mindes
Election administration in America is governed not by one singular body, as is typical in almost every country around the world, but by nearly 10,000 local jurisdictions, each with their own rules and regulations. Local elections are often underfunded and rely on volunteer poll workers who often receive minimal training on complex election procedures. Assessments of electoral administration quality are largely based off election administrators themselves or anecdotal observation efforts.
Therefore, when allegations of election fraud surfaced in the aftermath of the recent special elections in Alabama, the only recourse available to determine whether such claims were justified was to ask the administrators themselves.
By Grayson Lewis
The optics were sub-optimal for British Prime Minister Theresa May as she took to the podium in front of Number 10 Downing Street on a characteristically chilly and rainy London April morning. The wind tossed up her hitherto immaculate bob-cut hair, as passing cars honked loudly over her speech. More than the weather however, it was the content of May’s announcement that caught the attention of a sleepy British public. May confidently, yet very unexpectedly, announced her cabinet’s push for a snap election, to take place in less than two months’ time. This meant that -despite her recent stance up to that point that her government wasn’t seeking to do so- May was intending for British voters nationwide to return to the polls a whole three years ahead of schedule. For many observers who weren’t familiar with British politics, this begged a simple question: Why?
democracyandsociety.net 