Mexico electoral reforms are unlikely to succeed

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Local Levels

Significance President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has repeatedly accused electoral institutions of being biased and unreliable. Such claims have intensified since the June 6 mid-term elections, when decisions on several disputed races at federal and local levels went against Morena candidates. Impacts The divisions that led to conflict over the Electoral Court remain and could drive renewed tensions that will undermine its legitimacy. The Electoral Court’s credibility will be further undermined if investigations into Vargas’s unexplained wealth lead to corruption charges. Government attacks on the electoral authorities will become more common ahead of March’s planned presidential recall referendum.

Measuring tourism success: alternative considerations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Butler
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
National Level ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Indicators Of Success ◽  
Local Levels ◽  
Economic Criteria

PurposeThe study aims to explore the possibility of redefining success in tourism and measuring such a phenomenon by considering alternatives to economic factors, and to identify the ways such measurement could be implemented.Design/methodology/approachThe study reviews and explains current approaches to defining and measuring success in tourism in the literature, followed by identification of alternative factors which could be measured and the implications of such a change in approach.FindingsThere has been a long-standing emphasis and priority placed on measuring tourism at the national level with a focus on economic criteria, and this has been followed at regional and local levels. The result has been that success has become equated with volume, supporting the aim of continued growth in tourism. Such an approach and attitude mitigate against achieving or moving towards sustainability, and other measures are needed to avoid problems such as overtourism.Originality/valueThere has been little discussion of moving to a wider range of indicators of success in tourism, and the previous focus has been on economic criteria and competitiveness as shown by tourist numbers. This paper presents a discussion of an alternative approach, showing that tourism stakeholders from national to local levels need to redefine success as including factors such as community and environmental well-being and focus on a wider concept of success. Using existing data and organisations would enable measuring such concepts to be done without major change or greatly increased costs to agencies.

Tribes will play politics in Middle East monarchies

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
State Relations ◽  
Modern Nation State

Significance Tribe-state relations have experienced various levels of tension and cooperation in the monarchies of the Middle East and North Africa: Jordan, Morocco, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Throughout the region, there is much discussion of a claimed tribal resurgence. In reality, however, tribes have always had a significant political role, co-existing with the modern nation-state. Impacts Potential electoral reforms to de-emphasise traditional tribal boundaries or legalise political parties could disempower tribes. Slow and cumbersome bureaucracies will encourage people to trade on tribal affiliations in order to circumvent procedures. Where central governments become weaker, especially in cases of civil conflict, tribes may step in to fill the political power vacuum.

Authoritarian Learning in the Development of Russia’s Electoral System

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grigorii V. Golosov
Keyword(s):  
Electoral System ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Authoritarian Leadership ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Established Democracies ◽  
Learning From Error ◽  
Principal Elements

The contemporary electoral system of Russia, once adopted to foster the country’s transition to democracy, has been transformed into a crucial pillar of electoral authoritarianism. This study investigates how the principal elements of Russia’s electoral system contributed to the consolidation of the authoritarian political order. While certainly not undemocratic in themselves and often borrowed from well-established democracies, the electoral institutions of Russia were assembled into a combination that effectively prevents alternation in power. The study shows that central role in this process was played by learning from error. At each of the stages of transition to authoritarianism, electoral reforms were implemented in order to minimize the risks that were revealed by the previous electoral experiences of the authoritarian leadership.

scholarly journals Eye centre localisation: an unsupervised modular approach

Sensor Review ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenhao Zhang ◽  
Melvyn Lionel Smith ◽  
Lyndon Neal Smith ◽  
Abdul Rehman Farooq
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Real World ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Modular Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Time Performance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Real World Applications ◽  
Coarse To Fine ◽  
Local Levels

Purpose This paper aims to introduce an unsupervised modular approach for eye centre localisation in images and videos following a coarse-to-fine, global-to-regional scheme. The design of the algorithm aims at excellent accuracy, robustness and real-time performance for use in real-world applications. Design/methodology/approach A modular approach has been designed that makes use of isophote and gradient features to estimate eye centre locations. This approach embraces two main modalities that progressively reduce global facial features to local levels for more precise inspections. A novel selective oriented gradient (SOG) filter has been specifically designed to remove strong gradients from eyebrows, eye corners and self-shadows, which sabotage most eye centre localisation methods. The proposed algorithm, tested on the BioID database, has shown superior accuracy. Findings The eye centre localisation algorithm has been compared with 11 other methods on the BioID database and six other methods on the GI4E database. The proposed algorithm has outperformed all the other algorithms in comparison in terms of localisation accuracy while exhibiting excellent real-time performance. This method is also inherently robust against head poses, partial eye occlusions and shadows. Originality/value The eye centre localisation method uses two mutually complementary modalities as a novel, fast, accurate and robust approach. In addition, other than assisting eye centre localisation, the SOG filter is able to resolve general tasks regarding the detection of curved shapes. From an applied point of view, the proposed method has great potentials in benefiting a wide range of real-world human-computer interaction (HCI) applications.

scholarly journals Reasoning About Institutional Change: Winners, Losers and Support for Electoral Reforms

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHAUN BOWLER ◽  
TODD DONOVAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Random Assignment ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Mass Public ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Modest Effect

This study assesses how the mass public reasons about political institutions by examining the effects of winning and losing on support for several electoral reform proposals. The national sample survey identified majorities supporting proposals for major changes in America's electoral institutions, and that suggested electoral losses may have a modest effect in reducing losers' satisfaction with how democracy works. Random assignment experiments that tested hypotheses derived from theories of risk perception were conducted. It was found that people who saw themselves as winners and losers in the electoral arena reasoned differently when proposals for change were framed in terms of loss. Losers may be just slightly more supportive than winners of some electoral reforms; however, they appeared less sensitive than winners to framing effects that presented reform proposals in terms of the risks of loss. Winners may support the same reform proposals but their support for change decreased more when the proposals were framed as a potential loss. Winners are thus risk aversive when evaluating electoral reform proposals, while losers may even be risk seeking. Although this survey found support for major reforms, the patterns of reasoning that were identified in the mass public suggest a basis for the stability of electoral institutions.

scholarly journals The electoral foundations to noncompliance: addressing the puzzle of unlawful state aid in the European Union

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Franchino ◽  
Marco Mainenti
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
State Aid ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual

AbstractElectoral institutions shape the incentives of governments to rely on distributive measures and to comply with international obligations because of the misalignment they may engender between the collective objectives of a government party and the individual objectives of its members in the legislature. We use this argument to explain the puzzle of unlawful state aid measures in the European Union (EU). Existing theories of EU compliance and implementation offer no convincing explanation to their persistence and patterns. Using data from 2000 to 2012, we find that an increase of district magnitude improves compliance. However, compliance decreases with higher magnitude where either party leaders have no control over the ballot rank or other electoral rules strengthen the incentives to search for a personal vote. We also provide evidence for the effects of electoral reforms on compliance. These results have implications for the broader literature on compliance with international regimes.

Electoral Institutions, Hometowns, and Favored Minorities: Evidence from Japanese Electoral Reforms

2006 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeo Hirano
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Intergovernmental Transfers ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Geographic Patterns ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Electoral Reforms

This article presents evidence that electoral institutions affect the geographic distribution of both candidate electoral support and government resources. The author exploits two electoral reforms in Japan to identify the effect of institutional incentives: (1) the 1994 electoral reform from a multimember single nontransferable vote (SNTV) system to a mixed-member majoritarian (MMM) system with a single-member district (SMD) component and a proportional representation component; and (2) the 1925 electoral reform from a predominantly SMD system to a multimember SNTV system. Using several new data sets, the two main findings of this article are that (1) Japanese representatives competing in multimember SNTV districts had more geographically concentrated electoral support than those competing in SMDs and that (2) intergovernmental transfers appear to be more concentrated around Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) incumbents' home offices under the multimember SNTV system than under the MMM system. The findings in this article highlight the connection between institutions and geographic patterns of representation.

Congo’s electoral reform process will pose challenges

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Electoral Cycles ◽  
Sensitive Issues ◽  
Reform Debate

Significance After three successive electoral cycles (2006, 2011 and 2018) of decreasing legitimacy, one of the most sensitive issues on the new government’s agenda is electoral reform. Impacts The electoral reform debate may also strain the government’s relations with civil society actors whose support it needs in other domains. International partners will likely encourage electoral reforms but urge respect of the 2023 deadline for the next elections. Having senators and governors elected by popular vote could reduce corruption risks without greatly complicating the electoral format.

Postal or electronic voting? The analysis of the preferred voting methods in the context of failed electoral reform in Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Musiał-Karg ◽  
Izabela Kapsa
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Electronic Voting ◽  
General Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Potential Alternative ◽  
Voting Methods ◽  
Democratic Elections ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to discuss reasons for the failure of the 2020 postal-vote election reform in Poland and examine opinions of Poles on voting methods. The main goal is to answer the following research question: Which of the alternative voting methods – postal or electronic – would Poles prefer? Design/methodology/approach The approach is quantitative and based on the statistical analysis of voters’ attitudes toward alternative voting methods, in particular postal voting. Findings The main finding is that out of all voting methods available, most Poles favor electronic voting as a potential alternative to voting in person. On a general level, the conclusions from the Polish case highlight the need to establish special requirements and standards for democratic elections during emergency situations. The unsuccessful implementation of all-postal voting in Poland is an example of how changes to the law should not be made, especially when public health and democratic standards are at stake. Practical implications The paper presents practical implications and recommendations for state authorities and electoral administration while implementing electoral reforms, extending the list of available voting channels, and running elections – especially in extraordinary situations. Originality/value This paper adds to the knowledge on alternative voting channels, including their implementation during a pandemic. The Polish case is also relevant for other countries as regards safe and democratic elections during emergency situations. Policymakers are expected to benefit from the insight, as the results originate in public opinion polls and identify voting channels favored by citizens

Hong Kong electoral reforms tighten mainland control

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Electoral Reforms

Significance The goal is to ensure that Hong Kong’s formal political institutions are controlled by ‘patriots’ (meaning people who support the Chinese Communist Party) and end the obstruction (or threatened obstruction) seen in the city’s politics over the past decade. Impacts Beijing has lost faith in the current establishment, and is perhaps hoping for new, more competent pro-Beijing leaders to emerge. Hong Kong’s government may pursue a more active, interventionist economic policy to address cost-of-living issues. The next legislative elections, already postponed by a year to September 2021, may be postponed further. The reforms imply less tolerance of politicians who accept Hong Kong’s place within the Chinese state but favour political change in China.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document