Meddling in the Ballot Box: The Causes and Effects of Partisan Electoral Interventions

Why do world powers sometimes try to determine who wins an election in another country? What effects does such meddling have on the targeted elections results? Great powers have attempted for centuries to intervene in elections occurring in other states through various covert and overt methods, with the American intervention in the 2013 Kenyan elections and the Russian intervention in the 2016 US elections being just two recent examples. Indeed, the Americans and the Soviets/Russians intervened in one out of every nine national-level executive elections between 1946 and 2000. Meddling in the Ballot Box is the first book to provide a comprehensive analysis of foreign meddling in elections from the dawn of the modern era to the 2016 Russian intervention in the US election. Dov Levin shows that partisan electoral interventions are usually an "inside job" occurring only if a significant domestic actor within the target wants it. Likewise, a great power will not intervene unless it fears that its interests are endangered by an opposing party or candidate with very different preferences. He also finds that partisan electoral interventions frequently have significant effects on the results--sufficient in many situations to determine the winner. Such interference also tends to be more effective when it is conducted overtly. However, it is usually ineffective, if not counterproductive, when done in a founding election. A revelatory account that explains why major powers have meddled so frequently across the entire postwar era, Meddling in the Ballot Box also provides us with a framework for assessing the cyber-future of interference.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction: Hiding in Plain Sight Chapter 2: Why They Meddle in Elections- and What are the Effects on the Results Chapter 3: Throwing Their Hat Into the Ring: When Electoral Interventions Occur Chapter 4: Staying on the Sidelines: When Foreign Powers Decline Intervention Opportunities Chapter 5: Surveying the Landscape: An Overview of U.S. and Soviet/Russian Partisan Electoral Interventions, 1946-2000 Chapter 6: Dragging Them Over the Finish Line: the Effects of Partisan Electoral Interventions on Election Results Chapter 7: Delving In: Single Election Level Analysis of the Effects of Electoral Interventions Chapter 8: The (In)famous Election: Analyzing the Russian Intervention in the 2016 U.S. Elections Chapter 9: Conclusions Appendix A Bibliography

About the Author :
Dov H. Levin is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Hong Kong. His main research topic is on the effects of foreign interference with a special focus on the causes, effects, and effectiveness of partisan electoral interventions.

Review :
"Levin has written a terrific book based on a major and important research project." -- Political Science Quarterly "Given today's concerns about foreign intervention is US elections, the publication of this book is timely.... Recommended." -- CHOICE "[Levin's] theoretical framework and thorough empirical work is nothing less than impressive. The details of the case stories approach thriller qualities, making the book a good read!" -- Journal of Peace Research "Levin presents an important paradox: foreign electoral interference has been extraordinarily frequent in recent history, and yet political scientists largely ignore the phenomenon.... [T]he first major work focused solely on outside meddling in elections in the modern era... The book is a valuable foundation for the further study of a phenomenon that, especially when supercharged by cybertechnology, could threaten the future of electoral democracy." -- Foreign Policy "A pathbreaking book on great power election meddling during the Cold War. With care and precision, Levin lays out the long pre-history to the Russian electoral interference in 2016 in astounding detail. He explains when and why electoral interventions are effective, and what forms of elector interventions are likely to work in the future." -- Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law, Harvard University "Meddling in the Ballot Box is an utterly pathbreaking work on the important practice of foreign interference in elections. Though this phenomenon received widespread attention following the 2016 American election, Levin reminds us that it has been occurring for decades, even centuries. A critical contribution to both academic and foreign policy debates." -- Dan Reiter, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Political Science, Emory University