From Open Secrets to Secret Voting

Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-1-107-49529-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 248 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 474 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics

The expansion of suffrage and the introduction of elections after authoritarian interludes are momentous political changes that represent only the first step in the process of democratization. In the absence of institutions and guarantees that protect the electoral autonomy of voters against a range of actors who seek to influence their votes, these rights can just be hollow promises. This book examines the adoption of electoral reforms that protected the autonomy of voters during elections and sought to minimize undue electoral influences. Empirically, the book focuses on the adoption of reforms protecting electoral secrecy in Imperial Germany during the period between 1870 and 1912. This book shows that the political impetus for changes in electoral institutions originated with politicians that faced relatively high costs of electoral intimidation and identified the economic and political factors that affect the latter.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mares, Isabela

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Staats- und Regierungsformen, Staatslehre

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. The protection of voters' autonomy; 3. Electoral intimidation by state employees; 4. Electoral intimidation by private actors; 5. The production of irregularities at times of elections: a quantitative analysis; 6. The adoption of electoral reforms; 7. Labor scarcity, rural inequality, and electoral reforms: the determinants for electoral reform of the Prussian electoral system; 8. Voting for opposition candidates: economic concentration, skills, and political support for social democracy; 9. Dilemmas on the right and the road to proportional representation; 10. From macro- to micro-historical analysis in comparative research.

Über Autor(innen)

Mares, Isabela
Isabela Mares is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. She has conducted research on comparative democratization and electoral reform, comparative political economy, and comparative social policy. She is the author of The Politics of Social Risk (Cambridge University Press, 2003), which won the Gregory Luebbert Award of the American Political Science Association for best book in comparative politics, and of Taxation, Wage Bargaining and Unemployment (Cambridge University Press, 2006).