Why Governments and Parties Manipulate Elections: Theory, Practice, and Implications

Why do parties and governments cheat in elections they cannot lose? This book documents the widespread use of blatant and excessive manipulation of elections and explains what drives this practice. Alberto Simpser shows that, in many instances, elections are about more than winning. Electoral manipulation is not only a tool used to gain votes, but also a means of transmitting or distorting information. This manipulation conveys an image of strength, shaping the behavior of citizens, bureaucrats, politicians, parties, unions, and businesspeople to the benefit of the manipulators, increasing the scope for the manipulators to pursue their goals while in government and mitigating future challenges to their hold on power. Why Governments and Parties Manipulate Elections provides a general theory about what drives electoral manipulation and empirically documents global patterns of manipulation.

Author: Alberto Simpser
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 10/30/2014
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.99lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.68d
ISBN: 9781107448681

About the Author
Simpser, Alberto: - Alberto Simpser is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He has held research fellowships at Princeton University's Center for Globalization and Governance and at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His research has been published in the Journal of Politics and Public Opinion Quarterly.