A
student-led effort across facilitate multidisciplinary dialogue, awareness,
and action on international development.
Electoral Systems: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why It Matters
Hosted by the Law School
Every year, millions of people across the world exercise the precious democratic right of voting. But elections in even the most developed democracies seldom pass without a scandal. What can developing nations learn from these experiences? What can developed nations learn from new democracies?
CUPID’s forum on Electoral Systems brought four fascinating speakers to discuss their experiences with elections across the world.
The forum started with Xander Meise, a joint MPA and JD student at SIPA and Georgetown Law School, speaking about her work with National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Yemen. Xander explained that the main purpose of elections monitoring is to create faith in the elections system and to create a structure for resolving controversial elections. To that end, she and NDI worked on creating an internal network of volunteers and NGOs that were trained to monitor elections and teach people about election processes. Relying on domestic volunteers rather than foreigners helped overcome logistical difficulties and also local mistrust of foreign organizations. Xander also explained that election monitoring is inevitably an interdisciplinary process. In conclusion, Xander noted that United States election processes would fail international elections standards.
Next, Rachel Barish, a student at the law school, discussed her experiences working with a democracy focused human rights organization in Uganda. By first framing development as the expansion of individual choices, Rachel demonstrated why open elections are a key component of international development. Although Uganda prepared to have its first national election in 2004, as the election drew near, many opposition candidates and journalists were harassed and jailed. In the end, the incumbent government remained in power. Rachel observed that without an adversarial election system, the government had no incentive to implement new policies or change old ones.
Then Boaz Nol, a student at SIPA, talked about the difficulties of implementing democratic processes in countries suffering pervasive internal conflicts. Based on his experience managing campaigns in Bosnia and Israel, Boaz explained that democratic systems require active civil societies that trust the government. But when countries are constantly defending themselves from conflicts and reacting to different crises, they do not have the opportunity to develop a forward looking, stable political system. Boaz suggested that a country’s democratic culture, rather than successful elections, is the best measure of a successful democracy.
The last speaker was Professor Arnold Urken, a professor of voting theory and social choice at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Professor Urken explained that election technology is expensive, inefficient, and corruptible. Therefore, advanced election machinery does not necessarily improve the quality of elections. Instead, Professor Urken suggested that changing elections from a plurality system to a more complicated system, like allowing people to bank or sell their votes, would improve election standards. Democracy itself is based on the concept of shared goods, services and ideas; an elections process that is also based on this type of exchange might lead to more democratic results.
The forum discussion addressed several issues raised by the speakers. Participants considered the importance of individuals feeling connected to their government and also believing that their votes actually counts. The group also debated the advantages and disadvantages associated with allowing people to sell their votes.
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OTHER PAST FORUMS
Nov. 26, 2006: Trade
Nov. 8, 2006: Elections
Sept. 27, 2006: Energy
Apr. 19, 2006: Climate Change
Mar. 7, 2006: Non-Formal Education
Feb. 21, 2006: Immigration
Jan. 23, 2006: Media
Nov. 30, 2005: World Aids Day
Nov. 21, 2005: Hydropower
Oct. 10, 2005: Hurricane Katrina
To learn more or to get involved, contact CUPID's Forum Coordinator, Providence Spina (pms2113@columbia.edu).
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