From open secrets to secret voting: democratic electoral reforms and voter autonomy
In: Cambridge studies in comparative politics
Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. The protection of voters' autonomy; 3. Electoral intimidation by state employees; 4. Electoral intimidation by private actors; 5. The production of irregularities at times of elections: a quantitative analysis; 6. The adoption of electoral reforms; 7. Labor scarcity, rural inequality, and electoral reforms: the determinants for electoral reform of the Prussian electoral system; 8. Voting for opposition candidates: economic concentration, skills, and political support for social democracy; 9. Dilemmas on the right and the road to proportional representation; 10. From macro- to micro-historical analysis in comparative research. - "The expansion of suffrage and the introduction of elections after authoritarian interludes are momentous political changes that represent only the first step in the process of democratization. In the absence of institutions and guarantees that protect the electoral autonomy of voters against a range of actors who seek to influence their votes, these rights can just be hollow promises. This book examines the adoption of electoral reforms that protected the autonomy of voters during elections and sought to minimize undue electoral influences. Empirically, the book focuses on the adoption of reforms protecting electoral secrecy in Imperial Germany during the period between 1870 and 1912. This book shows that the political impetus for changes in electoral institutions originated with politicians that faced relatively high costs of electoral intimidation and identified the economic and political factors that affect the latter"--. - "The process of democratization that unfolded in European countries during the nineteenth century involved multiple dilemmas of institutional design. The first question concerned the scope of political suffrage. The transition from restrictive to extended suffrage took place either through the adoption of piece-meal changes in the scope of the franchise or through dramatic extensions that enfranchised nearly all citizens. Reforms enacted in Britain exemplify the first approach. There, the expansion of suffrage proceeded gradually. The first Franchise Act, enacted in 1832, extended the scope of suffrage from five to seven percent of the population. The second Franchise Act of 1867 extended the scope of suffrage to sixteen percent of the population (Cook 2005: 68). By contrast, both France and Germany adopted electoral reforms that expanded the share of the enfranchised population suddenly and dramatically. In Germany, the electoral law adopted in 1870 introduced universal suffrage for men.Similarly, France adopted universal male suffrage in 1799. While France reverted to censitary voting during the Restoration, it restored full universal suffrage for all male voters in 1848"--
