POWRE: A Comparative Analysis of the Role of Elections in Democratic Transitions

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This is a study of the role of elections in democratic transitions. Specifically, the investigator wishes to look at how the process of repeated elections affected the progress of democratization in the Russian Federation. Her research will explain national-level electoral outcomes (party organizations and aggregate vote totals) in terms of individual-level factors. Using data she is developing from a survey of Russian candidates for national parliamentary office from 1989 to 1999, she will test propositions on ambition theory, party formation, and the political implications of election laws. This project has implications beyond the study of democratization and elections in Russia. Elections have been an important element in many democratic transitions. Yet the relationship between electoral competition and democratic consolidation is not well understood. In addition, a number of regimes, from Japan to Hungary, have recently adopted mixed electoral systems to govern their electoral process. The investigator agues that the effects of these institutions are not consistent with expectations based on conventional theoretical frameworks. Her insights on the Russian case will suggest a framework incorporating institutional and contextual elements. In future work, she will apply this framework in cross-national comparisons. Her goal is to develop a systematic micro-level theory that explains variation in nation-level outcomes conducted under mixed electoral systems. With this POWRE Visiting Professor award, the investigator will gain and enhance skills in quantitative methods and political economy at Harvard University and she will collect data in the Russian Federation. Residence as a visiting professor will contribute to her career development in a number of ways. The opportunity to add new methodological and analytical skills will enable her to attain concrete research and teaching goals such as expanding her research agenda to incorporate multi-country studies and contributing to the graduate education of non-area specialists. The retraining program will enhance her contributions to the larger debates in the field of comparative politics.