The Credibility Challenge

The key to the impact of international election support is credibility; credible elections are less likely to turn violent. So argues Inken von Borzyskowski in The Credibility Challenge, in which she provides an explanation of why and when election support can increase or reduce violence.

Von Borzyskowski answers four major questions: Under what circumstances can election support influence election violence? How can election support shape the incentives of domestic actors to engage in or abstain from violence? Does support help reduce violence or increase it? And, which type of support—observation or technical assistance—is better in each instance? The Credibility Challenge pulls broad quantitative evidence and qualitative observations from Guyana, Liberia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Bangladesh to respond to these questions. Von Borzyskowski finds that international democracy aid matters for election credibility and violence; outside observers can exacerbate postelection violence if they cast doubt on election credibility; and technical assistance helps build electoral institutions, improves election credibility, and reduces violence. Her results advance research and policy on peacebuilding and democracy promotion in new and surprising ways.

Inken von Borzyskowski is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Florida State University. Her research has appeared in International Studies Quarterly, British Journal of Political Science, and Review of International Organizations.

The rigorous statistical analyses and cogent theory provided by von Borzyskowski in The Credibility Challenge suggest that our assumptions about democracy aid are also well worth revisiting.

Given our increasing need to understand the effects and effectiveness of democracy aid, The Credibility Challenge is a very important read for both academics and practitioners. By showing the effects of technical assistance as a credibility enhancer and of election observation as an accountability enhancer or fraud certifier, the book can help us make better use of development aid and select most appropriate approaches depending on context and time in the electoral cycle. It also serves as a good reminder that, in the democracy field, good intentions do not necessarily lead to positive results.

A seminal work of consistently insightful and meticulous scholarship, The Credibility Challenge is a timely and exceptionally well written, organized and presented contribution to community, college and university library Contemporary Political Science collections and supplemental studies lists.

Overall, this is an interesting and important addition to the literature.