International Organizations and the Globalization of National Elections

• In Event: Strategic (Non)Enforcement: State Responses to Migration

Abstract

Between 1990 and today, over 100 countries formally extended voting rights to citizens living abroad, including 39 out of 54 countries in Africa. There are numerous incentives for states, particularly developing democracies, to include emigrants formally as voters; yet during subsequent elections, we observe remarkable variation in the degree of access and level of diaspora participation. This paper investigates the role of international organizations (IOs) in the promotion, enforcement, and facilitation of diaspora voting in home country elections.

Unlike other policies associated with democratization and inclusion, IOs have been relatively silent on whether and how states should extend voting to their citizens living abroad. In particular, there has been little “naming and shaming” of states that fail to organize voting for non-resident citizens, despite de jure emigrant enfranchisement. On the other hand, IOs are assisting governments increasingly in the implementation of external voting, often in post-conflict or transitional elections. This exploratory paper combines qualitative case studies on recent elections in Mali and Libya, as well as quantitative analysis of an original dataset of all African national executive and legislative elections from 1990–2015, to explore when and how IOs assist diaspora voting.

Author

• Elizabeth Iams Wellman, Princeton University