This question is posted by ACE on behalf of a PhD student at the University of Baghdad. 

Question:

Can Practitioners' Network members help suggest some books, articles and analyses on the phenomenon of electoral abstention?

I am a PhD student at the University of Baghdad, and I intend to write a doctoral thesis about this phenomenon.

--

هل يمكنكم مساعدتي في توفير بعض الكتب والمقالات والتحليلات بخصوص ظاهرة العزوف الانتخابي لاني طالب دكتوراه في جامعة بغداد وأنوي كتابة أطروحة الدكتوراه حول هذه الظاهرة

Summary of Responses:

Practitioners noted the complexity of voter abstention, a topic which is often influenced by nuanced contextual factors, both when comparing different countries and when assessing different elections within a single polity. PN members suggested looking at existing material concerning voter turnout, on which greater research has been done compared to voter abstention. It would be beneficial to look at particular electoral laws and systems, so as to analyse the specific effects of a given framework vis-à-vis voter turnout. One possible approach is to study voter abstention in those countries (e.g. Belgium) where voting is mandated by law, and to consider the practical efficacy of such provisions.  Practitioners provided external resources on specific countries, and on topics such as electoral behaviour, political participation and qualitative approaches to electoral abstention.        

External Resources:

• International IDEA Database on Voter Turnout (since 1945): http://www.idea.int/vt/viewdata.cfm
• IFES Data Collection: www.ifes.org 
• Harvard Database on Voter Turnout in US Elections :http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/eda/data
• Rosa Viros Article - Qualitative approaches to electoral abstention: http://www.recercat.net/bitstream/handle/2072/1369/ICPS98.pdf?sequence=1
• Electoral Integrity Project and Harvard election analysis:  analysis: https://sites.google.com/site/electoralintegrityproject4/home
• Book on Mandatory Voting: “le vote obligatoire” Economica editions (French) ISBN: 978-2-7178-6049-8
• http://www.idea.int/vt/viewdata.cfm 

Further Articles:

• Individual characteristics, institutional incentives and electoral abstention in Western Europe, Perea, Eva Anduiza, European Journal of Political Research, 2002, Vol. 41 (5), 643-673
• French Electoral Reform and the Abstention Rate, Fauvelle - Aymar, Christine ; Lewis - Beck, Michael S ; Nadeau, Richard, Parliamentary Affairs, 2011, Vol. 64 (1), 45-60
• Electoral Platforms, Implemented Policies, and Abstention, Llavador, Humberto, Social Choice and Welfare, 2006, Vol. 27 (1), 55-81
• Number of parties, endogenous partisan preferences, and electoral turnout rates - A stochastic equilibrium analysis, Martin, CW ; Plumper, T, Social Science Computer Review, 2005, Vol. 23 (3), 347-359
• Political consequences of low turnout in the 2009 European Parliament elections, van Der Eijk, C ; Schmitt, H ; Sapir, Ev, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 2010, Vol. 51 (4), 605-617
• A model of electoral competition with abstaining voters, Zakharov, Alexei V., Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 2008, Vol. 48 (9), 1527-1553
• La communication engageante au service de la réduction de l'abstentionnisme électoral : une application en milieu universitaire, Deschamps, J.-C. ; Joule, R.-V. ; Gumy, C., Revue europeenne de psychologie appliquee, 2005, Vol. 55 (1), 21-27
• Quand les mots de l’abstention parlent des maux de la démocratie, Barbet, Denis, 2007
• From Partisanship to Abstention: Changing Types of Electoral Behavior in a New Democracy, Marius I. Tatar, Journal of Identity and Migration Studies, 2013, Vol. 7 (1), 2
• Electoral Results: Can Entropy be a Measure of the Population Dissatisfaction?, Paulo Ferreira ; Andreia Dionísio, International Journal of Business and Management, 2012, Vol. 7 (4)
• Voting with preferences over margins of victory, Llavador, Humberto, Mathematical Social Sciences, 2008, Vol. 56 (3), 355-365
• The selective abstention, or why some young people who vote in federal shun the municipal elections, Dostie-Goulet, E ; Blais, A ; Fournier, P ; Gidengil, E, Canadian Journal Of Political Science-Revue Canadienne De Science Politique, 2012, Vol. 45 (4), 909-927
• Disengaged or disenchanted? the vote ‘against all’ in post-communist Russia, Hutcheson, Derek S., Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 2004, Vol. 20 (1), 98-121
• Multi-party competition: A computational model with abstention and memory, Plümper, Thomas ; Martin, Christian W., Electoral Studies, 2008, Vol. 27 (3), 424-441
• ANALISIS DEL ABSTENCIONISMO EN LAS ELECCIONES PRESIDENCIALES DE COSTA RICA EN EL PERIODO 1953-1986, R., Oscar Hernández, Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos, 1990, Vol. 16/17, 117-137
• A Low Turnout Landslide: Abstention at the British General Election of 1997, Pattie, Charles ; Johnston, Ron, Political Studies, 2001, Vol. 49 (2), 286-305
• The partisan effects of low turnout: Analyzing vote abstention as a missing data problem, Bernhagen, Patrick ; Marsh, Michael, Electoral Studies, 2007, Vol. 26 (3), 548-560
• Decline of electoral turnout: The case of Norway, Narud, Hanne Marthe ; Valen, Henry, European Journal of Political Research, 1996, Vol. 29 (2), 235-256
• Protest voting and abstention under plurality rule elections - An alternative public choice approach, Kang, Wt, Journal Of Theoretical Politics, 2004, Vol. 16 (1), 79-102
• Abstention causes bifurcations in two-party voting dynamics, Stadler, Bmr, Applied Mathematics And Computation, 2000, Vol. 114 (2-3), 215-232
• Quand les mots de l’abstention parlent des maux de la démocratie, Barbet, Denis, 2009
• L'abstentionnisme électoral en Belgique : données individuelles et agrégées à Charleroi, Pion, Geoffrey, 2011
• Voter Turnout and Candidate Strategies in American Elections, Adams, James ; Merrill, Samuel Merrill, Journal of Politics, 2003, Vol. 65 (1), 161-189
• Why People Do Not Vote: The Role of Personal Values, Caprara, Gian Vittorio ; Vecchione, Michele ; Schwartz, Shalom H., European Psychologist, 2012, Vol. 17 (4), 266-278
• To vote or to abstain? An experimental test of rational calculus in first past the post and PR elections, Blais, André ; Pilet, Jean-Benoit ; Van Der Straeten, Karine ; Laslier, Jean-François ; Héroux-Legault, Maxime, Electoral Studies, 2014, Vol. 36, 39-50
• Brito, L de.: Challenge for democracy
• Francisco A. and Matter, K.: Powerty observation in Mozambique. Final Report

Contributing Members:

• Stephane Mondon

• Saad Alrawi

• Arsene Brice Bado

• Lourenco Chiluvane 

Good evening and thank you for your question,

I think you will be more successful in your research if you take the angle of the turnout rather than the abstention. More studies and books have scrutinized the subject.

International IDEA has a very good searchable database on turnout since 1945: http://www.idea.int/vt/viewdata.cfm

 IFES has also done data collection in countries they worked in. www.ifes.org 

If you want to focus on US elections, Harvard University has a pretty good archive on turnout by Precinct: http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/eda/data

You must already have the article from Ma. Rosa Viros on qualitative approach to electoral abstention: http://www.recercat.net/bitstream/handle/2072/1369/ICPS98.pdf?sequence=1

The Electoral Integrity Project and Pippa Norris From Harvard University have done the most authoritative work on election analysis: https://sites.google.com/site/electoralintegrityproject4/home

The question of abstention can also be studied in countries where the turnout is mandatory and the consequences of the non-respect of this obligation. For instance in Belgium where the vote is mandatory, the sanction is a fine that is not significant enough for the obligation to be enforced. A good book on the subject is “le vote obligatoire” Economica editions. It is unfortunately in French but could have been translated ISBN: 978-2-7178-6049-8

The subject being wide, one cannot give an exhaustive answer to your question but I hope I have been of some help. I wish you good luck for your thesis and don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of some assistance.

All the best,

Stephane Mondon

[email protected]

نعم ممكن مساعدتك فانا اكتب عن الانتخابات كثير ولي عدة مقالات ومؤتمرات ومشاركات وارسل بالمرق احدى مقالاتي بهذا الخصوص ((الانتخابات ) . وبين العزوف والمشاركة )) ومقال اخر بعوان  ((من يقاطع الانتخابات )) وممكن التواصل معي عبر  هذا الموقع او الاميل .

http://new.alnoor.se/article.asp?id=178906

http://new.alnoor.se/article.asp?id=227133

 من يقاطع الانتخابات ؟؟

الانتخابات العراقية على الابواب وهناك الكثير الكثير ممن يرغب بالمقاطعة ويريد ان يقـنع غيره بعدم جدواها ويتصور بانها قارب النجاة لحياة العراقيين اليوم ونسي بأن المشاركة لو كانت 1% والمقاطعة 99% ستعد صحيحة ومعترف بها محليا ودوليا واقليما   ولنا في ذلك امثلة متعددة في بلادنا .. فأن من يفوز ولو بهذه النسبة  هم سيختارون قادة البلاد وهم من يشرعون القوانين او يعدلونها ... الخ  فأين دورك أنت !! ... ونسي من يقاطع الانتخابات  بأنه لم يشارك في اصلاح الخلل وأيصال البلد لبر الامان وشاطئ الازدهار .  ونرى  في هذه الايام  نقاشات محتدمة  ومن نخب مثقفة  كثيرة تريد علاجا وأن تشارك في  أصلاح الخلل  وقد تيقن الكثير  بأن المقاطعة ليست الخيار الامثل وهذه حالة ايجابية  ونتمنى ان  يتوصلوا الى  ما بوسعهم لاقناع من لا يزال يفكر بالمقاطعة  ولذا وددت ان أعرج هنا الى تعداد  شخوص ترغب المقاطعة :-

1-  شخص اراد الراحة لنفسه ولا يهتم بما جرى ويجري فحبذ الصمت وعدم المناقشة او  الدخول في اي تصويت لانتخابات قادمة  .

2-  شخص ركن الى احدى فتاوى تحريم الانتخابات وتمسك بها رغم اختلاف وجهات النظر وتباينها  في هذا الموضوع وحتى لو جائت فتوى جديد سوف لن يسمعها .

3-  شخص بعيد عن الاحداث ولم يحدث له او لافراد عائلته اي شئ مما  جرى   ويجري اليوم في ارض الوطن .

4-  شخص يستلم راتبه وقد يكون معه في البيت من الاولاد سواء بنين او بنات يقاضون مرتباتهم ويسكونون بعيدا عن الاحداث وليس لهم هم الا انفسهم ورواتبهم وعملهم  فطالما امورهم على ما يرام فلا يهمهم هلاك غيرهم او دمار وطنهم .

5-  شخص  لا يجيد الا النقد وقد يكون نقد لاذع  وجارح  رغم ان هناك شخوص تنتقد نقد بناء للتصحيح وليس للهدم .

6-  شخص يريد أن يلغي كل العملية السياسية ويسيّر البلد على هواه وبمقترحات لا يمكن قبولها من معظم الاطراف ولا يمكن ان تجري على ارض الواقع  .

7-  هناك نخب مثقفة قد تقاطع وفي نفس الوقت  تنتقد نقد بناء وهذا شئ رائع  ولكن الاروع هو ان تجتمع وتضع حلول وبدائل وفق ما متاح من امكانيات سواء قانونية او ثقافية او مالية ... فقد يكون على هذه الشريحة العبئ الاكبر لأنها تحاور وتناقش وتشعر في ثناياها رائحة الاخلاص وحب الوطن . فالنقد وحده لا يكفي ولا يغير الحال  .

8-  شخص يعتقد أن الانتخابات مزورة مسبقا وستتقاسمها الكتل الكبيرة ونسي بأن له دور كبير في مراقبة ونزاهة الانتخابات ولكنه اهمل دوره وركن الى المقاطعة لانها اسهل طريقة  لبقاء الحال على ما هو عليه أن لم يزداد سوءا أذ ما شاركه الكثيرين بهذه الافكار وتركوا  بطاقاتهم الانتخابية عرضة للتزوير او لتدور الشكوك حولها .

9-  شخص اندفع اندفاع كبير في انتخابات سابقة وتفائل خيرا وصوت لمرشح لو لكيان كان يتصوره المنقد للبلاد والعباد وأذا بكل اماله خابت ... فالفشل في الاختيار ليس عيبا فانت احسنت النية واخطأت في الاختيار ونسي بانه بأمكانه اليوم تصويب الاختيار والفشل هو اولى خطوات النجاح  .

10-       شخص  وعده مرشح ولم يفي بوعده بعد فوزه فهذا الشخص لم يلوم نفسه على ان يطلع على القانون ليعرف صلاحيات عضو البرلمان او عضو مجالس المحافظات وظنّ بان الجميع على هذه الشاكلة   .     

سعد الراوي

Hello. The problem of electoral abstention is very complex and explanations are usually case specific. Even within the same country, explanations of abstention could vary from an election to another. This explains why there exit numerous theories in the literature about electoral abstention. The literature is also divided between abstention in old democracies and in new (young) democracies... In order to understand the problem of electoral abstention, I suggest that you consider the literature on: -electoral behavior; political participation (and not only electoral participation); voter turnout. You might also want to read about electoral laws and the electoral systems since there exist many studies on the effect of specific electoral system on voter turnout.

For your request of bibliography, here are some articles that would lead you to numerous other sources of literature:
- Individual characteristics, institutional incentives and electoral abstention in Western Europe
Perea, Eva Anduiza, European Journal of Political Research, 2002, Vol. 41 (5), 643-673
- French Electoral Reform and the Abstention Rate,
Fauvelle - Aymar, Christine ; Lewis - Beck, Michael S ; Nadeau, Richard, Parliamentary Affairs, 2011, Vol. 64 (1), 45-60
- Electoral Platforms, Implemented Policies, and Abstention
Llavador, Humberto, Social Choice and Welfare, 2006, Vol. 27 (1), 55-81
- Number of parties, endogenous partisan preferences, and electoral turnout rates - A stochastic equilibrium analysis
Martin, CW ; Plumper, T, Social Science Computer Review, 2005, Vol. 23 (3), 347-359
- Political consequences of low turnout in the 2009 European Parliament elections
van Der Eijk, C ; Schmitt, H ; Sapir, Ev, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 2010, Vol. 51 (4), 605-617
-A model of electoral competition with abstaining voters
Zakharov, Alexei V., Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 2008, Vol. 48 (9), 1527-1553
-La communication engageante au service de la réduction de l'abstentionnisme électoral : une application en milieu universitaire
Deschamps, J.-C. ; Joule, R.-V. ; Gumy, C., Revue europeenne de psychologie appliquee, 2005, Vol. 55 (1), 21-27
-Quand les mots de l’abstention parlent des maux de la démocratie
Barbet, Denis, 2007
-From Partisanship to Abstention: Changing Types of Electoral Behavior in a New Democracy
Marius I. Tatar, Journal of Identity and Migration Studies, 2013, Vol. 7 (1), 2
- Electoral Results: Can Entropy be a Measure of the Population Dissatisfaction?
Paulo Ferreira ; Andreia Dionísio, International Journal of Business and Management, 2012, Vol. 7 (4)
- Voting with preferences over margins of victory
Llavador, Humberto, Mathematical Social Sciences, 2008, Vol. 56 (3), 355-365
-The selective abstention, or why some young people who vote in federal shun the municipal elections
Dostie-Goulet, E ; Blais, A ; Fournier, P ; Gidengil, E, Canadian Journal Of Political Science-Revue Canadienne De Science Politique, 2012, Vol. 45 (4), 909-927
- Disengaged or disenchanted? the vote ‘against all’ in post-communist Russia
Hutcheson, Derek S., Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 2004, Vol. 20 (1), 98-121
- Multi-party competition: A computational model with abstention and memory
Plümper, Thomas ; Martin, Christian W., Electoral Studies, 2008, Vol. 27 (3), 424-441
-ANALISIS DEL ABSTENCIONISMO EN LAS ELECCIONES PRESIDENCIALES DE COSTA RICA EN EL PERIODO 1953-1986
R., Oscar Hernández, Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos, 1990, Vol. 16/17, 117-137
- A Low Turnout Landslide: Abstention at the British General Election of 1997
Pattie, Charles ; Johnston, Ron, Political Studies, 2001, Vol. 49 (2), 286-305
- The partisan effects of low turnout: Analyzing vote abstention as a missing data problem
Bernhagen, Patrick ; Marsh, Michael, Electoral Studies, 2007, Vol. 26 (3), 548-560
- Decline of electoral turnout: The case of Norway
Narud, Hanne Marthe ; Valen, Henry, European Journal of Political Research, 1996, Vol. 29 (2), 235-256
- Protest voting and abstention under plurality rule elections - An alternative public choice approach
Kang, Wt, Journal Of Theoretical Politics, 2004, Vol. 16 (1), 79-102
- Abstention causes bifurcations in two-party voting dynamics
Stadler, Bmr, Applied Mathematics And Computation, 2000, Vol. 114 (2-3), 215-232
- Quand les mots de l’abstention parlent des maux de la démocratie
Barbet, Denis, 2009
- L'abstentionnisme électoral en Belgique : données individuelles et agrégées à Charleroi
Pion, Geoffrey, 2011
- Voter Turnout and Candidate Strategies in American Elections
Adams, James ; Merrill, Samuel Merrill, Journal of Politics, 2003, Vol. 65 (1), 161-189
- Why People Do Not Vote: The Role of Personal Values
Caprara, Gian Vittorio ; Vecchione, Michele ; Schwartz, Shalom H., European Psychologist, 2012, Vol. 17 (4), 266-278
- To vote or to abstain? An experimental test of rational calculus in first past the post and PR elections
Blais, André ; Pilet, Jean-Benoit ; Van Der Straeten, Karine ; Laslier, Jean-François ; Héroux-Legault, Maxime, Electoral Studies, 2014, Vol. 36, 39-50

Hi 

see : http://www.idea.int/vt/viewdata.cfm ...hier you can get a lot off articles.

What mozambican context concern you can see articles written by 

- Brito, L de.: Challenge for democracy

- Francisco A. and Matter, K.: Powerty observation in Mozambique. Final Report.

- See also  articles written by center for global development.