On June 1st, 2016, Marinov will present at the Stanford IR Seminar on:

Process or Candidate? The International Community and the Demand for Electoral Integrity

The working paper is available from SSRN

Why do outside powers promote democracy, candidates, or both, in the elections of others? We argue that investments in processes and parties are mutually dependent: an extra dollar for a candidate buys more or less depending on election bias. When parties adopt platforms that differ from the point of view of the outsiders, at least some resources are invested in candidates. This does not preclude democracy promo- tion. Especially when geo-political importance of a country is high, candidate support increases the overall investment in cleaner political processes by liberal outsiders. Such investments become conditional on whether domestic allies are in government, or in opposition. We also show when “election wars,” conflictual investments by outsiders in domestic candidates, are bad for democracy and for the interveners themselves. Our work helps us understand an important and recurring challenge: that of aiding democracy in a world of overlapping spheres of influence among powerful outsiders. 

This is a joint project with Johannes Bubeck at Mannheim