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

本论文研究项目将解释政党抵制选举的原因。由于这是第一次全面讨论这一问题，涉及自1990年以来168个国家共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个案研究比较。这个项目不同于以前对这个主题的处理，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驾驭特定的政治制度，比如国家政党资金的可用性和选举参与规则，以确定抵制的价值。我们将构建一个博弈论模型来理解现任政府和反对党在国际选举监督问题上所面临的选择，这些选择反过来影响抵制的决定。除了建立一个关于选举和抵制选举的新数据库，并为考虑政党抵制选举现象提供一个新的理论框架外，该项目还将为研究更普遍地发展民主和非标准政治战略提供重要贡献。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除了传统的投票寻求之外的策略是有益的，以及这些策略对民主进程有什么影响。此外，该项目的结果将使我们更多地了解国内政策，如公共财政和选举程序对新民主国家民主质量的影响。最后，对抵制选举的研究将有助于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.