IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0243094.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of two-round presidential elections on human rights

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua Holzer

Abstract

Recent research suggests that democratic presidential elections held using a runoff rule produce presidents that are more likely to protect human rights, in comparison to those elected under plurality rule; with this follow-up article, I seek to highlight the importance of advancing to a runoff round for those elections held using a runoff rule. I find that for presidential democracies that already have a runoff rule in place, country-years where the president has been elected after a runoff round are more likely to be associated with high government respect for human rights, in comparison to country-years where the president has been elected after only one round (that could have advanced to a runoff round, but did not). This article provides decision-makers with more information regarding the human rights consequences of runoff rounds, so that the costs and benefits of adopting (or retaining) variations of a runoff rule can be better weighed.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua Holzer, 2020. "The effect of two-round presidential elections on human rights," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0243094
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243094
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0243094
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0243094&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0243094?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hill, Daniel W. & Jones, Zachary M., 2014. "An Empirical Evaluation of Explanations for State Repression," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 661-687, August.
    2. Adam S. Chilton & Mila Versteeg, 2016. "Do Constitutional Rights Make a Difference?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(3), pages 575-589, July.
    3. Christian Davenport & David A. Armstrong, 2004. "Democracy and the Violation of Human Rights: A Statistical Analysis from 1976 to 1996," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(3), pages 538-554, July.
    4. Joshua Holzer, 2019. "Reevaluating the presidential runoff rule: Does a provision promote the protection of human rights?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-11, May.
    5. Tomz, Michael & Wittenberg, Jason & King, Gary, 2003. "Clarify: Software for Interpreting and Presenting Statistical Results," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 8(i01).
    6. Peter Fishburn & Steven Brams, 1981. "Approval voting, Condorcet's principle, and runoff elections," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 89-114, January.
    7. Poe, Steven C. & Tate, C. Neal, 1994. "Repression of Human Rights to Personal Integrity in the 1980s: A Global Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(4), pages 853-872, December.
    8. Joshua Holzer, 2020. "The effect of copartisan justice ministers on human rights in presidential democracies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, September.
    9. José Cheibub & Jennifer Gandhi & James Vreeland, 2010. "Democracy and dictatorship revisited," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 67-101, April.
    10. Harff, Barbara, 2003. "No Lessons Learned from the Holocaust? Assessing Risks of Genocide and Political Mass Murder since 1955," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 97(1), pages 57-73, February.
    11. Axel Dreher & Martin Gassebner & Lars-H. R. Siemers, 2012. "Globalization, Economic Freedom, and Human Rights," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 56(3), pages 516-546, June.
    12. Nurmi, Hannu, 1983. "Voting Procedures: A Summary Analysis," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 181-208, April.
    13. Hafner-Burton, Emilie M. & Hyde, Susan D. & Jablonski, Ryan S., 2014. "When Do Governments Resort to Election Violence?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 149-179, January.
    14. Cingranelli, David & Fajardo-Heyward, Paola & Filippov, Mikhail, 2014. "Principals, Agents and Human Rights," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 605-630, July.
    15. Giovanni Sartori, 1994. "Comparative Constitutional Engineering," International Economic Association Series, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-22861-4, June.
    16. Doyle, David & Elgie, Robert, 2016. "Maximizing the Reliability of Cross-National Measures of Presidential Power," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 731-741, October.
    17. Hafner-Burton, Emilie M., 2005. "Trading Human Rights: How Preferential Trade Agreements Influence Government Repression," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 59(3), pages 593-629, July.
    18. -, 1986. "Agenda = Agenda," Series Históricas 8749, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joshua Holzer, 2020. "The effect of copartisan justice ministers on human rights in presidential democracies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Kimberly R Frugé, 2019. "Repressive agent defections: How power, costs, and uncertainty influence military behavior and state repression," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(6), pages 591-607, November.
    3. Sabine C. Carey, 2010. "The Use of Repression as a Response to Domestic Dissent," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(1), pages 167-186, February.
    4. M Christian Lehmann, 2023. "Foreign interests and state repression: Theory and evidence from the Armenian genocide," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(2), pages 307-321, March.
    5. Matthew Rains & Daniel W Hill Jr, 2024. "Nationalism and torture," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(5), pages 794-807, September.
    6. Steven C. Poe & Nicolas Rost & Sabine C. Carey, 2006. "Assessing Risk and Opportunity in Conflict Studies," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 50(4), pages 484-507, August.
    7. Joshua Holzer, 2019. "Nationalism and human rights: A replication and extension," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-9, August.
    8. Alexander B. Downes, 2007. "Restraint or Propellant? Democracy and Civilian Fatalities in Interstate Wars," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 51(6), pages 872-904, December.
    9. Axel Dreher & Martin Gassebner & Lars-H. R. Siemers, 2012. "Globalization, Economic Freedom, and Human Rights," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 56(3), pages 516-546, June.
    10. Bjørnskov, Christian & Pfaff, Katharina, 2021. "Differences matter: The effect of coup types on physical integrity rights," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    11. Erik Melander, 2009. "Selected To Go Where Murderers Lurk?," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 26(4), pages 389-406, September.
    12. Thorin M. Wright, 2020. "Revisionist Conflict and State Repression," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 49-72, March.
    13. Joan Barceló & Robert Kubinec & Cindy Cheng & Tiril Høye Rahn & Luca Messerschmidt, 2022. "Windows of repression: Using COVID-19 policies against political dissidents?," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(1), pages 73-89, January.
    14. repec:got:cegedp:115 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Sara Kahn-Nisser, 2021. "For better or worse: Shaming, faming, and human rights abuse," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(3), pages 479-493, May.
    16. Philip Hultquist, 2017. "Is collective repression an effective counterinsurgency technique? Unpacking the cyclical relationship between repression and civil conflict," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 34(5), pages 507-525, September.
    17. Andreas Beger & Daniel Hill Jr, 2019. "Examining repressive and oppressive state violence using the Ill-Treatment and Torture data," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(6), pages 626-644, November.
    18. Erica Chenoweth & Evan Perkoski & Sooyeon Kang, 2017. "State Repression and Nonviolent Resistance," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(9), pages 1950-1969, October.
    19. Daniela Donno & Michael Neureiter, 2018. "Can human rights conditionality reduce repression? Examining the European Union’s economic agreements," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 335-357, September.
    20. Pavel Yakovlev, 2011. "The Economics of Torture," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Peter S. Henne & Jason Klocek, 2019. "Taming the Gods: How Religious Conflict Shapes State Repression," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(1), pages 112-138, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0243094. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.