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

这是一项关于选举在民主过渡中的作用的研究。具体地说，调查员希望了解反复选举进程如何影响俄罗斯联邦的民主化进程。她的研究将从个人层面的因素来解释国家层面的选举结果(政党组织和总票数)。使用她从1989年到1999年对俄罗斯国家议会职位候选人进行的调查得出的数据，她将测试关于抱负理论、政党组建和选举法的政治影响的命题。这个项目的影响超出了对俄罗斯民主化和选举的研究。选举是许多民主过渡中的一个重要因素。然而，选举竞争和民主巩固之间的关系并没有得到很好的理解。此外，从日本到匈牙利的一些政权最近采取了混合选举制度来管理其选举进程。研究人员指出，这些机构的影响与基于传统理论框架的预期不一致。她对俄罗斯案件的见解将提出一个融合了制度和背景因素的框架。在未来的工作中，她将把这个框架应用到跨国比较中。她的目标是发展一种系统的微观理论，解释在混合选举制度下国家一级结果的差异。有了POWRE访问教授奖，这位研究人员将获得并提高哈佛大学在量化方法和政治经济学方面的技能，她将在俄罗斯联邦收集数据。常驻客座教授将在多个方面为她的职业发展做出贡献。增加新的方法和分析技能的机会将使她能够实现具体的研究和教学目标，例如扩大她的研究议程，将多国研究纳入其中，并为非领域专家的研究生教育作出贡献。再培训计划将增强她在比较政治领域的更大辩论中的贡献。

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.