Beyond Free and Fair: Monitoring Elections and Building Democracy

by Eric C. Bjornlund

Overview

Beyond Free and Fair: Monitoring Elections and Building Democracy draws on worldwide experience since the mid-1980s to evaluate international election monitoring and domestic monitoring, and their contributions to democracy promotion and democratic change. In this book, Eric Bjornlund provides an overview of what election monitoring is, where it comes from, and how it is currently conducted, and he educes general lessons for democracy promotion. Bjornlund reports on actual practice, including case studies of particular election monitoring efforts and the author's own experience in the field, and on a few previous efforts to synthesize guidelines and lessons learned.

Case studies include Cambodia, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and Indonesia, with the last especially providing an opportunity to show how domestic monitors can be supported by international monitors, funders, and advisers. Bjornlund also devotes a chapter to the influential election monitoring work of former president Jimmy Carter.

The author criticizes the tendency to view elections and election monitoring narrowly rather than as part of broader strategies to build democracy. He makes practical recommendations about how election monitoring should evolve in the future if it is to continue to contribute to genuine democratization.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801880506
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2004
Series:	Woodrow Wilson Center Press Series
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.05(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Eric Bjornlund is a founder and principal of Democracy International, which evaluates and assists democracy and governance programs worldwide. He has also been associate director and Asia director of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2000–2001.

Table of Contents

List of Tables
Foreword, by Lee H. Hamilton
Acknowledgments
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
Part I: Democracy Promotion, Elections, and Election Monitoring
1. The Emergence of Election Monitoring
Democracy Promotion and Election Monitoring
Why Study Election Monitoring and Democracy Promotion?
Flaws in Current International Practice
Plan of the Book
2. The Expansion of Democracy and Democracy Promotion
The Emergence of Democracy Assistance in the United States
Beyond the United States
3. Elections and Election Monitoring
The Growing Importance of Elections in Democratization and International Relations
Types of Elections
The Authority of Election Observers
Types of Election Monitoring
The Extent of Election Monitoring
Toward Universal Norms
Part II: International Election Monitoring
4. From Nongovernmental to Intergovernmental Organizations: Actors in International Election Monitoring
The United Nations and Elections
Other Multilateral Organizations
U.S. Democracy Organizations
5. Jimmy Carter and the Popularization of InternationalElection Observation
The Carter Center Discovers Election Monitoring
Panama: A New Potential Unfurled
Nicaragua: Carter Invents "Election Mediation"
Carter's Election Monitoring Comes of Age
Zambia: Bringing Election Mediation and Parallel Counts beyond Latin America
Guyana: Too Much Focus on PVTs?
Institutionalizing Election Monitoring and Democracy Promotion at the Carter Center
6. Toward "Free and Fair" Elections?
Sources of Evaluation Standards
The "Free and Fair" Standard
Standards in Context
Preconditions to Observation
Judging Elections
7. The Scope and Methodology of International Election Observation
Standards of Conduct for Observers
The Scope and Methodology of Observation
Finding Facts and Making Assessments: Checklists and Standards of Proof
The Coordination of International Election Observers
Coordinating International Observers for the 1996 Palestinian Elections
Developing More Effective Monitoring
8. Cambodia: Challenges to International Election Observation
Elections and Democratization in Cambodia
Elections as Panacea
Splits within the International Community
Preelection Monitoring and Preelection Problems
The Interests and Agendas of Observers
Postelection Assessments and Preelection Flaws
Strains in the Bipartisan American Approach to Cambodian Democracy
Postelection Monitoring
The 2002 Local Elections: "Déja Vu All Over Again"
9. Host-Government Manipulation of Observers: Elections in Zimbabwe
Refusing or Manipulating International Observers
Restricting Observers to Zimbabwe's Elections in 2000
Observing Zimbabwe's Presidential Election in 2002
Manipulating Observers
Part III: Domestic Election Monitoring
10. The Origins of Domestic Election Monitoring: NAMFREL and Its Successors
The Invention of Nonpartisan Domestic Election Monitoring in the Philippines
Sharing the NAMFREL Idea
Domestic Election Monitoring Consolidates Its Role
Domestic Monitoring Meets Resistance
11. Domestic Election Monitoring as an End and a Means
Activities of EMOs during Elections: Approaches and Issues
Coordination between International and Domestic Observers
Elections and Election Monitoring as Ends or Means
Toward More Effective Support for Nonpartisan Domestic Political Engagement
12. Foreign Support for Domestic Election Monitoring in Indonesia: Missed Opportunities and Unintended Consequences
Before the Transition: KIPP and the Precedent for Independent Monitoring in Indonesia
Planning for the 1999 Elections: University-Based Monitoring and More
The Performance of Principal EMOs
Unintended Consequences of Foreign Funding and Advice
Ineffective Coordination among International Organizations and Donors
Poor Advice from International Organizations and Donors
Collaboration between International and Domestic Observers
Calibrating International Assessments in Response to Domestic Concerns
13. Verifying the Vote Count: Quick Counts, Parallel Tabulations, and Exit Polls in Macedonia and Indonesia
Quick Counts and PVTs
Statistically Based and Comprehensive Tabulations
Limitations of Exit Polls in Transitional or Postconflict Elections: The Experience of Macedonia
Monitoring the Vote Count in Indonesia: Too Much of a Good Thing
Choosing Appropriate Tools
Part IV: Toward More Meaningful International Election Monitoring
14. Toward More Meaningful International Election Monitoring
Improving the Methodologies and Professionalism of International Election Observers
Improving International Support for Nonpartisan Domestic Monitoring
Toward Best Practices
Appendix: Elections and Election Monitoring in Newly Democratic and Semiauthoritarian Countries
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Horacio Boneo

An outstanding book in a important field. On the basis of an extensive field experience, Björnlund combines insightful conceptual analysis with detailed descriptions of relevant cases. A recommended reading for those involved in electoral observation.

Jennifer Windsor

Eric Bjornlund combines solid research and extensive knowledge with vast practical experience (including insightful vignettes from several case studies) to produce a first rate book on the history and evolution of election observation. Given the dearth of written material that reflects the experience and lessons learned of the last 15 years of democracy promotion, Bjornlund has made a major contribution to the scholarly and policy work on an important subject. This book is a must read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities, challenges and achievements of programs and people working to improve elections around the world.

— Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House

Jennifer Windsor

Eric Bjornlund combines solid research and extensive knowledge with vast practical experience (including insightful vignettes from several case studies) to produce a first rate book on the history and evolution of election observation. Given the dearth of written material that reflects the experience and lessons learned of the last 15 years of democracy promotion, Bjornlund has made a major contribution to the scholarly and policy work on an important subject. This book is a must read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities, challenges and achievements of programs and people working to improve elections around the world.

Thomas Carothers

Eric Bjornlund has written a book that has been much needed for years—a comprehensive, incisive account of the critically important field of election monitoring in new democracies. Moreover he has produced a masterful, field-defining work, infused with a probing, judicious spirit of constructive criticism, grounded in a wide range of practical cases, and packed with insights about how to do better.

From the Publisher

Eric Bjornlund combines solid research and extensive knowledge with vast practical experience (including insightful vignettes from several case studies) to produce a first rate book on the history and evolution of election observation. Given the dearth of written material that reflects the experience and lessons learned of the last 15 years of democracy promotion, Bjornlund has made a major contribution to the scholarly and policy work on an important subject. This book is a must read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities, challenges and achievements of programs and people working to improve elections around the world.
—Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House

Eric Bjornlund has written a book that has been much needed for years—a comprehensive, incisive account of the critically important field of election monitoring in new democracies. Moreover he has produced a masterful, field-defining work, infused with a probing, judicious spirit of constructive criticism, grounded in a wide range of practical cases, and packed with insights about how to do better.
—Thomas Carothers, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

An outstanding book in a important field. On the basis of an extensive field experience, Björnlund combines insightful conceptual analysis with detailed descriptions of relevant cases. A recommended reading for those involved in electoral observation.
—Horacio Boneo, former Director, United Nations Electoral Assistance Division

Editorial Reviews

Thorough and richly documented . . . Contains the right mix of facts and statistics . . . Those interested in election monitoring will find it indispensable.
—Thomas G. Walker, Law and Politics Book Review

Authoritative study of an important but neglected topic.
—Future Survey

From the Publisher

Authoritative study of an important but neglected topic.

Future Survey

Thorough and richly documented . . . Contains the right mix of facts and statistics . . . Those interested in election monitoring will find it indispensable.

Law and Politics Book Review - Thomas G. Walker