Conclusions: The new research agenda on electoral management
| Date | 01 June 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512119829869 |
| Published date | 01 June 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512119829869
International Political Science Review
2019, Vol. 40(3) 391 –403
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512119829869
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Conclusions: The new research
agenda on electoral management
Pippa Norris
Harvard University, USA and the University of Sydney, Australia
Abstract
This concluding article begins by considering the reasons behind the growing demand for policy-relevant
comparative research into the institutional structures and processes of electoral management. It then
outlines the theoretical framework used in this special issue – distinguishing the structure, capacities, and
ethos of electoral management – and summarizes the key insights arising from the evidence. Research
on electoral management is expanding, nevertheless it suffers from several major challenges, including the
difficulties of isolating aid effectiveness in this sector and of determining the impact of electoral management
on broader indicators of democratic performance. This constitutes the future research agenda.
Keywords
Elections, election administration, electional management bodies, electoral integrity
Introduction
The articles in this special issue contribute toward the burgeoning research literature seeking to
understand the consequences of electoral management, especially the administrative role and func-
tions of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) throughout the many stages of the electoral cycle.
These institutions are a core mechanism at the heart of liberal democracy, alongside the legislature,
which enacts and authorizes electoral rules, and the judiciary, which adjudicates electoral disputes
and reviews the constitutionality of the electoral laws (Torres and Diaz, 2015). Nevertheless, reliable
knowledge establishing the impact of electoral administration in differing contexts and types of
regime has lagged well behind the body of work on many other aspects of elections and voting behav-
ior. The structure, capacity, and ethos of EMBs are widely assumed to be important for well-run
contests meeting standards of electoral integrity. In particular, the organizational independence of
electoral administrators and their ability to avoid partisan meddling and political pressures is com-
monly assumed to be essential for their impartiality and fairness. But empirical evidence scrutinizing
Corresponding author:
Pippa Norris, John F Kennedy School of Government, 110 Littauer Building, Harvard University, 79 JKF Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Email: pippa_norris@HKS.Harvard.edu
829869IPS0010.1177/0192512119829869International Political Science ReviewNorris
research-article2019
Special Issue Article
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