Monitors and Meddlers
How Foreign Actors Influence Local Trust in Elections

Investigates how foreign actors influence citizens' trust in elections, and cases where outside intervention has enhanced or undermined election integrity.

Sarah Sunn Bush (Author), Lauren Prather (Author)

9781009204279, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 March 2024

326 pages
22.8 x 15 x 1.8 cm, 0.49 kg

'Hopefully, this splendid election research model will be replicated for more countries. … Recommended.' J. C. Hickman, Choice

Foreign influences on elections are widespread. Although foreign interventions around elections differ markedly-in terms of when and why they occur, and whether they are even legal-they all have enormous potential to influence citizens in the countries where elections are held. Bush and Prather explain how and why outside interventions influence local trust in elections, a critical factor for democracy and stability. Whether foreign actors enhance or diminish electoral trust depends on who is intervening, what political party citizens support, and where the election takes place. The book draws on diverse evidence, including new surveys conducted around elections with varying levels of democracy in Georgia, Tunisia, and the United States. Its insights about public opinion shed light on why leaders sometimes invite foreign influences on elections and why the candidates that win elections do not do more to respond to credible evidence of foreign meddling.

1. Introduction
2. How foreign actors influence election credibility
3. Research strategy
4. Monitors' effects
5. Meddlers' effects
6. Intervener identity
7. Individual vote choice
8. Elections with foreign influences.

Subject Areas: International organisations & institutions [LBBU], International relations [JPS], Comparative politics [JPB]