Title: ” Why Election Boycotts May Not Be A Bad Idea ?” (with Jesper Bjarnesen and Gudlaug Olafsdottir)
Date and Time: March 30, 12:30
Venue: A-130 Seminar Room, FEASS
Speaker: Sebastian van Baalen, Uppsala University
Abstract:
Do election boycotts work? Conventional wisdom holds that election boycotts are “a bad idea” that involve opposition parties forfeiting a chance to win power without imposing any costs on the incumbent. Using a comprehensive global dataset on all election boycotts in 1945–2024, we demonstrate that far from all boycotts are costly, as opposition parties boycott elections in which they stand little to gain. Moreover, examining the global record of boycotts, we challenge the claim that boycotts “don’t work” and show that the share of boycotts winning some concessions is far higher than often asserted. Testing insights from research on civil resistance and electoral authoritarianism through case studies of three successful election boycotts, we show how boycotts can force concessions by undermining the regime’s legitimacy, weakening its repressive capacity, and inspiring resistance. In doing so, the study contributes new knowledge on a popular yet misunderstood opposition strategy under electoral authoritarianism.
Biograpy:
Sebastian van Baalen is Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden. His research focuses on civilian agency and resistance in contexts characterized by violence and authoritarianism. He is currently leading a three-year research project on the consequences of election boycotts. Sebastian’s research has been published in a range of high-ranking academic journals, including American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Peace Research, Political Geography, and World Development. He has a background as a freelance journalist, and still considers writing the most exciting of his daily tasks.