Electoral Manipulation and Regime Support: Survey Evidence from Russia

press release: 4:00 pm, (refreshments served beginning at 3:45), 206 Ingraham Hall

David Szakonyi, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University. This talk will argue that fraud is costly for autocrats not just because it may ignite protest—as several scholars have argued—but also because it can undermine the regime’s core base of electoral support. Because many of its strongest supporters expect elections to be free and fair, the regime has strong incentives to conceal or otherwise limit its use of electoral fraud.