International election monitors strive to uphold international norms, but their assessments are not always as depoliticized as envisioned. This criticism is not new, but it has hitherto always been anecdotal. Through analysis of case studies and a global dataset, this article systematically identifies some of the predispositions of international election monitors and opens a debate about their implications.
About the Author
Judith Kelley, associate professor of public policy and political science at Duke University, has published widely in such journals as International Organization and the American Political Science Review. She is also the principal investigator of the National Science Foundation–sponsored Project on International Election Monitoring.
Turkmenistan’s authoritarian president Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov attempted to use sham democratic elections in February 2017 to bolster his legitimacy both at home and abroad.
