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Two (or Five, or Ten) Heads are Better than One: The Need for an Integrated Effort to International Election Monitoring

PDF · Rachel Ricker · Oct-16-2012 · 39 VAND. J. TRANSNAT'L L. 1373 (2006)

Election monitoring efforts have a crucial role to play in attaining the goals of self-determination and democratic sovereignty.  Yet current election monitoring practice suffers from variance in the goals, standards, and strategies employed by the many organizations that engage in election monitoring and observation programs.  This Note examines the current state of election monitoring within the framework for analyzing the legitimacy of rules proposed by Thomas Franck in his 1992 article The Emerging Right to Democratic Governance, and concludes that the shortcomings of the current system fail to address many necessary aspects of legitimate self-governance of monitored nations.  The Author advocates an integrated and coordinated approach between monitoring organizations and effective and appropriate use of developing technological tools in order to improve the ability of election monitoring to aid in attaining the goal of self-determination.




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