Does It Matter What Observers Say? The Impact of International Election Monitoring on Legitimacy

Authors

Lindsay J. Benstead, Portland State UniversityFollow
Kristen Kao, University of Gothenburg
Ellen Lust, University of Gothenburg

Sponsor

This work was supported by the Moulay Hicham Foundation; World Bank Group; Yale University.

Published In

Mediterranean Politics

Document Type

Post-Print

Publication Date

4-2020

Abstract

Scholars and democracy promoters often suggest that electoral observers’ (EOs’) assessments impact public opinion in a straightforward manner, yet, research on communication cautions against these sanguine assumptions. We test the impact of EO statements on public opinion in two very different contexts using survey experiments conducted among 3,361 Jordanians and Tunisians. Our results demonstrate the need for democracy promoters to consider negative consequences when implementing democracy promotion programmes, and for scholars to undertake further research regarding the impacts of election monitoring on domestic attitudes.

Description

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Mediterranean Politics, April 2020, Copyright © 2020 Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13629395.2020.1730601

Locate the Document

http://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2020.1730601

DOI

10.1080/13629395.2020.1730601

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/33047

Citation Details

Benstead, L., Kao, K., & Lust, E. (2020). Does it matter what observers say? The impact of international election monitoring on legitimacy. Mediterranean Politics, 1-22.