Doctoral Dissertation in Political Science: Contesting the Contest: Political Parties and Election Boycotts

本论文的研究项目将解释为什么政党抵制选举。 由于这是第一次全面处理这一问题，涉及1990年以来在168个国家举行的总共626次选举，因此将审查抵制选举的几个方面。 将探讨各方抵制的条件以及抵制的影响。 还将包括对牙买加和多米尼加共和国的案例研究比较。 这个项目与以前对这个问题的处理不同，因为它首先认为抵制选举是政党的一种战略选择。 一个决策模型被用来解释反对党如何浏览特定的政治机构，如国家党的资金和选举参与规则的可用性，以确定抵制的价值。 将建立一个博弈模型，以了解现任政府以及反对党面临的选择，其中涉及国际选举监督问题，这反过来又影响抵制的决定。 除了建立一个关于选举和选举抵制的新数据库，并为考虑政党选举抵制现象提供一个新的理论框架外，该项目还将为研究发展民主和更普遍的非标准政治战略做出重要贡献。 在这个项目中测试的假设将有助于解释为什么政党可能会发现其他战略而不是传统的投票寻求是有益的，以及这些战略对民主进程的影响。 此外，该项目的结果将告诉我们更多关于国内政策的影响，如公共财政和选举程序，在新的民主国家的民主质量。 最后，对选举抵制的研究将帮助我们更好地理解国际社会、外国援助和选举监督对新生民主的影响。

This dissertation research project will explain why political parties boycott elections. Since this is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject, covering a total of 626 elections in 168 countries since 1990, several aspects of election boycotts will be examined. Conditions under which parties boycott as well as the effects of boycotts will be explored. A case study comparison of Jamaica and the Dominican Republic will also be included. This project is distinct from previous treatments of the subject because it argues first and foremost that election boycotts are a strategic choice on the part of political parties. A decision model is used to explain how opposition parties navigate particular sets of political institutions, such as the availability of state party finance and rules of electoral participation, to determine the value of a boycott. A game theoretic model will be constructed to understand the choices that face incumbent governments, as well as opposition parties, where questions of international election monitoring are concerned, which in turn affect decisions to boycott. Broader Impact In addition to the creation of a new database on elections and election boycotts, and providing a new theoretical framework for considering the phenomenon of party election boycotts, this project will provide an important contribution to the study developing democracies and non-standard political strategies more generally. The hypotheses tested in this project will help explain why parties might find strategies other than classic vote seeking to be beneficial, and what effect these strategies have on the democratic process. Furthermore, the results of this project will tell us more about the effects of domestic policies, such as public finance and electoral procedures, on democratic quality in new democracies. Finally this study of election boycotts will help us better understand the effects of the international community, foreign aid, and election monitoring, on nascent democracy.