Administering Elections provides a digest of contemporary American election administration using a systems perspective. The authors provide insight into the interconnected nature of all components of elections administration, and sheds like on the potential consequences of reforms that fail to account for this.

"Elections: A Very Short Introduction focuses on the key concepts surrounding elections that occur in all democracies and non-democratic regimes. Elections, essentially, determine who will hold public office and who will have the power to govern. Moreover, all democracies do not function in the same way and so do their respective election system functions. The VSI then highlights how elections connect citizens to those whom they choose to make decisions on their behalf and who regulate their behavior. It examines a variety of voting and electoral systems before providing an overview of reforms under consideration in a number of countries"--

Recent decades have seen growing concern regarding problems of electoral integrity. The most overt malpractices used by rulers include imprisoning dissidents, harassing adversaries, coercing voters, vote-rigging counts, and even blatant disregard for the popular vote. Elsewhere minor irregularities are common, exemplified by inaccurate voter registers, maladministration of polling facilities, lack of security in absentee ballots, pro-government media bias, ballot miscounts, and gerrymandering. Serious violations of human rights that undermine electoral credibility are widely condemned by domestic observers and the international community. Recent protests about integrity have mobilized in countries as diverse as Russia, Mexico, and Egypt. However, long-standing democracies are far from immune to these ills; past problems include the notorious hanging chads in Florida in 2000 and more recent accusations of voter fraud and voter suppression during the Obama-Romney contest. When problems come to light, however, is anyone held to account and are effective remedies implemented? In response to these developments, there have been growing attempts to analyze flaws in electoral integrity and transparency using systematic data from cross-national time-series, forensic analysis, field experiments, case studies, and new instruments monitoring mass and elite perceptions of malpractices. This volume collects essays from international experts who evaluate the robustness, conceptual validity, and reliability of the growing body of evidence. The essays compare alternative approaches and apply these methods to evaluate the quality of elections in several areas, including the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. Election Watchdogs: Transparency, Accountability and Integrity presents new insights into the importance of diverse actors who promote electoral transparency, accountability, and ultimately the integrity of electoral governance.

Stephen K. Medvic’s Campaigns and Elections is a comprehensive yet compact core text that addresses two distinct but related aspects of American electoral democracy: the processes that constitute campaigns and elections, and the players who are involved. In addition to balanced coverage of process and actors, it gives equal billing to both campaigns and elections and covers contests for legislative and executive positions at the national, state, and local levels, including issue-oriented campaigns of note. The book opens by providing students with the conceptual distinctions between what happens in an election and the campaigning that precedes it. Significant attention is devoted to setting up the context for these campaigns and elections by covering the rules of the game in the American electoral system as well as aspects of election administration and the funding of elections. Then the book systematically covers the actors at every level—candidates and their organizations, parties, interest groups, the media, and voters—and the macro-level aspects of campaigns such as campaign strategy and determinants of election outcomes. The book concludes with a big-picture assessment of campaign ethics and implications of the "permanent campaign." New to the Fourth Edition: • Fully updated through the 2020 elections, looking ahead to the 2022 midterms • Covers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2020 election as well as the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol • Adds new sections in Chapter 3 on election integrity and the assessment of election administration • Reviews recent Supreme Court cases on gerrymandering and faithless electors • Expands coverage of social media as a source of news, of the increasingly partisan nature of the media, and of the role of media fact-checking in campaigns and elections • Reorganizes the chapters on the various actors so that the chapter on candidates leads directly to the chapter on campaigns • Fully updates the resources listed at the end of each chapter

Yes, In My Lifetime is a collection of selected articles and essays by Haroub Othman, written over the span of his career of nearly four decades. Originally appearing in a wide range of fora, the writings reflect Othman’s growth as an intellectual and an activist. They also encapsulate his life’s passions ñ the plight of the people and their struggles for their rights, the state of the Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, and international solidarity with the oppressed the world over. A child of Zanzibar, Othman fought long and hard for the unity of those islands, and for their continued presence in the Union, and the set of articles in that section pay homage to that work. Haroub Othman was a professor of development studies at the University of Dar es Salaam, having specialised in international law and political science. He was still working with the University when he passed away in 2009. His many Kiswahili writings are unfortunately not included in this book.

This volume compares international and institutional accounts as alternative perspectives to explain why elections fail to meet international standards.

Essentials of Public Service is the most accessible, student-friendly introductory Public Administration text on the market. The book prepares students for careers in today’s public service, whether in government or nonprofits. Each chapter teaches the public service context, essential public service skills, and what it takes to do the job, whether managing or providing direct service.