Is international election observation credible? Evidence from Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe missions
While international election observations missions often aim to present generalizable claims about the quality and integrity of an election, their findings are rarely based on a representative sample of observations, undermining the credibility of the missions. Bias in the selection of polling stati...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2014-07-01
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| Series: | Research & Politics |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168014541587 |
| _version_ | 1798045884699639808 |
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| author | Max Bader Hans Schmeets |
| author_facet | Max Bader Hans Schmeets |
| author_sort | Max Bader |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While international election observations missions often aim to present generalizable claims about the quality and integrity of an election, their findings are rarely based on a representative sample of observations, undermining the credibility of the missions. Bias in the selection of polling stations, among other things, can inflate or deflate the percentage of polling stations where observers find significant flaws. This article uses original data from Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) election observation missions to illustrate the nature of the problem of selection bias in international election observation, and show how the percentage of ‘bad’ polling stations (in the absence of selection bias) can be estimated through a weighting procedure. The article finds that, while there is a strong degree of selection bias, this does not significantly impact the overall percentage of ‘bad’ polling stations that is reported by OSCE observation missions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T23:28:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f69d341168ca411d897379b26ef0e130 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2053-1680 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T23:28:20Z |
| publishDate | 2014-07-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Research & Politics |
| spelling | doaj.art-f69d341168ca411d897379b26ef0e1302022-12-22T03:57:14ZengSAGE PublishingResearch & Politics2053-16802014-07-01110.1177/205316801454158710.1177_2053168014541587Is international election observation credible? Evidence from Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe missionsMax Bader0Hans Schmeets1Leiden University, The NetherlandsMaastricht University and Statistics Netherlands, The NetherlandsWhile international election observations missions often aim to present generalizable claims about the quality and integrity of an election, their findings are rarely based on a representative sample of observations, undermining the credibility of the missions. Bias in the selection of polling stations, among other things, can inflate or deflate the percentage of polling stations where observers find significant flaws. This article uses original data from Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) election observation missions to illustrate the nature of the problem of selection bias in international election observation, and show how the percentage of ‘bad’ polling stations (in the absence of selection bias) can be estimated through a weighting procedure. The article finds that, while there is a strong degree of selection bias, this does not significantly impact the overall percentage of ‘bad’ polling stations that is reported by OSCE observation missions.https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168014541587 |
| spellingShingle | Max Bader Hans Schmeets Is international election observation credible? Evidence from Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe missions Research & Politics |
| title | Is international election observation credible? Evidence from
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe missions |
| title_full | Is international election observation credible? Evidence from
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe missions |
| title_fullStr | Is international election observation credible? Evidence from
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe missions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is international election observation credible? Evidence from
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe missions |
| title_short | Is international election observation credible? Evidence from
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe missions |
| title_sort | is international election observation credible evidence from organization for security and co operation in europe missions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168014541587 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT maxbader isinternationalelectionobservationcredibleevidencefromorganizationforsecurityandcooperationineuropemissions AT hansschmeets isinternationalelectionobservationcredibleevidencefromorganizationforsecurityandcooperationineuropemissions |