Description: Often regarded as a phenomenon of earlier times and backward places, vote buying has made an impressive comeback in recent decades — primarily as a by-product of democratization. Elections for Sale offers the first comprehensive analysis of this widespread but ill-understood practice.

The authors systematically explore a series of key questions: What exactly is vote buying? What are its underlying causes? Why does it occur in some places, but not in others? How does it affect political and economic development? Can it be educated or legislated away? Their work presents new theoretical insights, as well as fresh empirical evidence from Asia and Latin America.

Contents: Why Study Vote Buying? • What Is Vote Buying? • Part 1 When and How Do Politicians Buy Votes? • When Does a Market for Votes Emerge? • How Do Rules and Institutions Encourage Vote Buying? • The Logistics: How to Buy Votes • Part 2 How Does Vote Buying Shape Politics and the Economy? • Is Vote Buying Undemocratic? • How Does Vote Buying Shape the Legislative Arena? • How Does Vote Buying Shape the Economy? • Part 3 Is Reform Possible? • How Effective Are Institutional Reforms? • How Effective Is Voter Education? • Part 4 Conclusion • Lessons Learned

About the Author: Frederic Charles Schaffer is lecturer on social studies at Harvard University and research associate at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is author of Democracy in Translation: Understanding Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture.

Target Audience: Students and academics of political science, international relations, journalists, electoral commissions.