2023

Honorable Mention: Masaaki Higashijima
Title: The Dictator’s Dilemma at the Ballot Box: Electoral Manipulation, Economic Maneuvering, and Political Order in Autocracies (University of Michigan Press)

This meticulously framed comparative examination of elections in autocratic regimes contributes to key discussions in political economy. Masaaki Higashijima’s analysis of comparative politics focuses on detailed comparisons of two Central Asian republics by drawing upon a richly detailed collection of qualitative and quantitative data. Offering compelling insights into the rise of authoritarian politics and the consolidation of power via manipulating elections the work, this research adds to our understanding of electoral manipulation decision-making. The book expands our understanding of how regimes approach the tradeoff between the legitimizing effects of winning elections without manipulation and the comfortable certainty resulting from obvious electoral intervention.

Winner: Fritz Bartel