Policy Studies is a long-standing journal concerned with public policy and governance.  Like the real world that it studies, the journal itself has undergone many changes since it was launched. From October 2020, I have the great honour of serving as the editor-in-chief. New papers and special issue proposals are encouraged. The journal has revised aims…Read more New Directions for Policy Studies

When is it democratic to postpone an election? Surprisingly, there is very little political science/legal literature on this question. Sead Alihodzic of International IDEA and I provide an answer to this question in the Election Law Journal, and introduce a new typology of different types of postponement. Download it free, here: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/elj.2020.0642. And here is…Read more When is it democratic to postpone an election?

Hacked electoral registers. Calls for online voting. Deep fakes on social media. We have now entered the era of cyber elections which pose both threats and opportunities for electoral integrity. International and national laws must now keep pace. Or so a Holly Ann Garnett and I argue in the Election Law Journal. The article is…Read more The era of cyber elections is here

The global spread of COVID-19 has already profoundly impacted the health and welfare of citizens around the world. Decisions being made about how elections are run during the pandemic will have a further profound effect, shaping the health of democracy in the future. Read my blog with International IDEA about some key questions that policy…Read more Adapting elections to COVID-19: five key questions for decision makers

Automatic electoral registration (AER) has been proposed as policy to increase the number of people on the electoral register in the UK. The perception that automatic registration could significantly boost participation in democracy has led to cross party support including support by the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in its 2014 report on voter engagement,…Read more Is it time for Automatic Voter Registration in the UK?

Who runs elections in Europe? And how can they be improved? With colleagues Holly Ann Garnett, Leontine Loeber and Caroline van Ham, a new report has been published answering this question. The report draws from a survey of electoral officials. The report, including a link to the day can be downloaded here: Building Better Elections:…Read more Who runs elections in Europe?

The global spread of Covid-19 has profoundly impacted the health and welfare of citizens around the world. It has also had a profound effect on elections, with at least 47 countries postponing forthcoming contests. With colleagues at International IDEA, I've written some recent pieces on whether elections should be postponed or whether elections can be…Read more Should elections be postponed because of coronavirus?

The Brexit referendum was conducted on a stormy day, with heavy downpours of rain across much of the UK. Dark clouds were also circulating over the infrastructure and staff that run elections in the UK, however, as Alistair Clark and I show in a new article in Local Government Studies. We draw from original data…Read more Under Pressure: the UK’s Electoral Machinery in the Brexit Referendum

Elections around the world are plagued with the problem of unequal levels of participation. This can have profound consequences for election results, representation and policy outcomes. A special issue of Policy Studies has just been published focusing on the interventions that can be used to redress the turnout gap and other inequalities within the electoral…Read more Building inclusive elections

Automatic electoral registration (AER) has been proposed as policy to increase the number of people on the electoral register in the UK. The perception that automatic registration could significantly boost participation in democracy has led to cross party support including support by the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in its 2014 report on voter engagement, and…Read more Is it Time for Automatic Voter Registration in the UK? Call for Views