Professor Isabela Mares received the 2021 Best Book in European Politics of the American Political Science Association

Isabela Mares, Director of the European Union Studies Program; Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science
September 1, 2021

Arnold Wolfers Professor Isabela Mares’ book Conditionality and Coercion: Electoral Clientelism in Eastern Europe won the Best Book Award from the European Politics Section of APSA,  an Organized Section of the American Political Science Association.

Conditionality and Coercion: Electoral Clientelism in Eastern Europe uses a mixed method approach to understand how illegal forms of campaigning including vote buying and electoral coercion persist in two democratic countries in the European Union. The study argues that we must disaggregate clientelistic strategies based on whether they use public or private resources, and whether they involve positive promises or negative threats and coercion. We document that the type of clientelistic strategies that candidates and brokers use varies systematically across localities based on their underlying social coalitions. We also show that voters assess and sanction different forms of clientelism in different ways. Voters glean information about politicians’ personal characteristics and their policy preferences from the clientelistic strategies these candidates deploy.

The European Politics and Society organized section of the American Political Science Association looks to support scholarship and teaching of European politics. The section aims to bring together scholars at all career stages working on facets of European politics, and support the activities of related sections and other groups working the area of European politics.

Congratulations Professor Mares!