Causes and Consequences of Electoral Violence: Evidence from England and Wales 1832-1914
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Government and International Affairs
Abstract
Electoral violence plagues the modern world, but it is not a new phenomenon. Violence and intimidation were a common part of early elections in many now established democracies. This project will use new detailed data to examine electoral violence in England and Wales from its peak after the Great Reform Act (1832) until it disappeared before the Great War (1914). Based on the exceptionally detailed historical records available for Britain (1832-1914), we will provide new answers to some of the most challenging questions about what leads to electoral violence, and about its effects. Our findings will be useful not just to historians but contemporary scholars of election violence and practitioners seeking to tackle this problem.
Most existing research focuses on modern day emerging democracies. So why study an historical case to learn about what drives electoral violence? First, electoral violence was successfully eliminated in Britain. This allows us to examine the factors that led to its demise, which is not possible in contemporary cases where electoral violence tends to persist. Second, we are able to look at a period of nearly one century and 20 general elections. In contrast to contemporary studies - which have time-spans of about twenty to thirty years - this enables us to disentangle short-, medium- and long-term trends in electoral violence. Finally, the available data on election violence and other variables of interest in England and Wales during this time period is exceptionally good, especially when compared to contemporary cases. This will allow us to implement cutting edge research designs by tracing a large number of individuals' voting histories over multiple elections and correlate this with incidents of violence, along with various background characteristics (e.g., age, education, income, employment etc.) to study the micro-dynamics of electoral violence and see how violence effects voting behaviour over time and across multiple elections.
Our project will also revise existing historical understandings of nineteenth century Britain. We will provide a new contextual account of election violence, providing a much more careful and geographically specific periodisation of election violence. We will address major historical debates about the adequacy of cultural explanations of election violence by examining whether such violence was primarily used strategically by politicians, or whether, as most contemporary historians have argued, that it was an unfortunate part of the carnival atmosphere of elections in the Victorian period.
This analysis will be made possible by creating a new data set on electoral violence in England and Wales for all 20 general elections between 1832 and 1914, based on newspaper archives, government and police records. We will link this information to (cleaned up versions) of existing political, economic, social, geographic, and non-election related violence databases including individual-level data from Rate and Poll books. We will also collect and analyse a wide range of qualitative evidence. Independent of our analysis of them, these linked quantitative and qualitative datasets will be a significant resource for other scholars. Taken together we will write a monograph which will provide a new historical account of English and Welsh election violence in the period based on more complete and systematic data. We will also write a series of articles which will address specific claims about election violence, looking at the perpetrators and targets, economic causes, the relationship to the rise of cohesive parties, and the short-, medium- and long- term consequences of election violence.
Our findings will be of interest to practitioners who seek to address contemporary election violence because we will make robust causal inferences about long-term effects in a case where the problem was solved, and over a period of nearly a century.
Most existing research focuses on modern day emerging democracies. So why study an historical case to learn about what drives electoral violence? First, electoral violence was successfully eliminated in Britain. This allows us to examine the factors that led to its demise, which is not possible in contemporary cases where electoral violence tends to persist. Second, we are able to look at a period of nearly one century and 20 general elections. In contrast to contemporary studies - which have time-spans of about twenty to thirty years - this enables us to disentangle short-, medium- and long-term trends in electoral violence. Finally, the available data on election violence and other variables of interest in England and Wales during this time period is exceptionally good, especially when compared to contemporary cases. This will allow us to implement cutting edge research designs by tracing a large number of individuals' voting histories over multiple elections and correlate this with incidents of violence, along with various background characteristics (e.g., age, education, income, employment etc.) to study the micro-dynamics of electoral violence and see how violence effects voting behaviour over time and across multiple elections.
Our project will also revise existing historical understandings of nineteenth century Britain. We will provide a new contextual account of election violence, providing a much more careful and geographically specific periodisation of election violence. We will address major historical debates about the adequacy of cultural explanations of election violence by examining whether such violence was primarily used strategically by politicians, or whether, as most contemporary historians have argued, that it was an unfortunate part of the carnival atmosphere of elections in the Victorian period.
This analysis will be made possible by creating a new data set on electoral violence in England and Wales for all 20 general elections between 1832 and 1914, based on newspaper archives, government and police records. We will link this information to (cleaned up versions) of existing political, economic, social, geographic, and non-election related violence databases including individual-level data from Rate and Poll books. We will also collect and analyse a wide range of qualitative evidence. Independent of our analysis of them, these linked quantitative and qualitative datasets will be a significant resource for other scholars. Taken together we will write a monograph which will provide a new historical account of English and Welsh election violence in the period based on more complete and systematic data. We will also write a series of articles which will address specific claims about election violence, looking at the perpetrators and targets, economic causes, the relationship to the rise of cohesive parties, and the short-, medium- and long- term consequences of election violence.
Our findings will be of interest to practitioners who seek to address contemporary election violence because we will make robust causal inferences about long-term effects in a case where the problem was solved, and over a period of nearly a century.
Planned Impact
There are two non-academic user communities who will benefit from outputs of this project: development practitioners specialising in political stability and democracy promotion; and the general British public.
Development practitioners will benefit because understanding the causes and consequences of electoral violence is fundamental to developing new and refining existing programs that aim to prevent electoral violence. Notwithstanding the obvious contextual differences, comparing past and contemporary electoral violence can provide new insights. Moreover, a better understanding of the causes and consequences of electoral violence will allow government agencies and non-governmental organizations to use their limited resources more efficiently, thereby maximizing their impact. In particular, the project promises to generate relevant findings in three areas. First and foremost, the fact that we study a historical case where electoral violence was successfully eradicated - in contrast with studies of contemporary cases - means that we can offer new evidence as to what factors are crucial in this process. Where these factors are potentially manipulable through policy interventions, our findings have the capacity inform the design of development programs aimed at reducing electoral violence. Second, we will provide new evidence as to how changes in structural factors, such as political institutions and economic circumstances, affect the frequency and pattern of electoral violence in the short-, medium- and long-run. This will provide insights with regard to which countries and regions within countries are most likely to experience electoral violence. It will also help practitioners identify the type of institutional reforms development agencies should push for. Finally, by focusing on a historical case, the project moves beyond studying the short-term effects of electoral violence to look at the longer-term consequences of electoral violence for political attitudes, participation and behaviour. We will thus provide an initial evidence base which practitioners can use to develop programs that mitigate negative long-term effects of electoral violence and thereby help to foster democratic consolidation.
The Department for International Development (DIFID), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), and the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) are convinced of the practical relevance of this project and have written letters of support. Our Pathways to Impact statement highlights how through a practitioner advisory committee, on which DIFID, WDF, and USIP agreed to sit, we ensure that our research will produce policy-relevant insights for the practitioner community. In addition, USIP, DIFID, and WFD have agreed to support us in hosting dissemination events in Washington DC and London, which will allow us to demonstrate how results from our research translate into practical guidance for program development and refinement to reduce electoral violence in emerging democracies today.
Our research also benefits the general public by enriching their understanding and appreciation of British electoral development. In particular, by clearly demonstrating that the phenomenon of electoral violence is not unique to developing countries in the post-Cold War era, and has been a challenge to free and fair elections in Britain in the past, it will help to promote a greater understanding of the challenges faced by contemporary emerging democracies. In order to secure this impact, we have identified a number of blogs to disseminate our findings. We will also set up a project website where citizens will be able to use our data to learn about the history of electoral violence in their constituency. The visual display of our original data on electoral violence during the formative years of the Westminster system will give citizens insight into nineteenth century elections and enrich their understanding of British political development.
Development practitioners will benefit because understanding the causes and consequences of electoral violence is fundamental to developing new and refining existing programs that aim to prevent electoral violence. Notwithstanding the obvious contextual differences, comparing past and contemporary electoral violence can provide new insights. Moreover, a better understanding of the causes and consequences of electoral violence will allow government agencies and non-governmental organizations to use their limited resources more efficiently, thereby maximizing their impact. In particular, the project promises to generate relevant findings in three areas. First and foremost, the fact that we study a historical case where electoral violence was successfully eradicated - in contrast with studies of contemporary cases - means that we can offer new evidence as to what factors are crucial in this process. Where these factors are potentially manipulable through policy interventions, our findings have the capacity inform the design of development programs aimed at reducing electoral violence. Second, we will provide new evidence as to how changes in structural factors, such as political institutions and economic circumstances, affect the frequency and pattern of electoral violence in the short-, medium- and long-run. This will provide insights with regard to which countries and regions within countries are most likely to experience electoral violence. It will also help practitioners identify the type of institutional reforms development agencies should push for. Finally, by focusing on a historical case, the project moves beyond studying the short-term effects of electoral violence to look at the longer-term consequences of electoral violence for political attitudes, participation and behaviour. We will thus provide an initial evidence base which practitioners can use to develop programs that mitigate negative long-term effects of electoral violence and thereby help to foster democratic consolidation.
The Department for International Development (DIFID), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), and the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) are convinced of the practical relevance of this project and have written letters of support. Our Pathways to Impact statement highlights how through a practitioner advisory committee, on which DIFID, WDF, and USIP agreed to sit, we ensure that our research will produce policy-relevant insights for the practitioner community. In addition, USIP, DIFID, and WFD have agreed to support us in hosting dissemination events in Washington DC and London, which will allow us to demonstrate how results from our research translate into practical guidance for program development and refinement to reduce electoral violence in emerging democracies today.
Our research also benefits the general public by enriching their understanding and appreciation of British electoral development. In particular, by clearly demonstrating that the phenomenon of electoral violence is not unique to developing countries in the post-Cold War era, and has been a challenge to free and fair elections in Britain in the past, it will help to promote a greater understanding of the challenges faced by contemporary emerging democracies. In order to secure this impact, we have identified a number of blogs to disseminate our findings. We will also set up a project website where citizens will be able to use our data to learn about the history of electoral violence in their constituency. The visual display of our original data on electoral violence during the formative years of the Westminster system will give citizens insight into nineteenth century elections and enrich their understanding of British political development.
Publications
Gary D Hutchison
(2019)
Corruption, Culture, and Custom: Electoral Violence in Nineteenth-Century England and Wales
Luke Blaxill
(2022)
Electoral Violence in England and Wales, 1832-1914
| Description | The aim of this project was twofold: (1) the collection of the first systematic dataset of election violence events for all 20 General Elections held between 1832 and 1914 in England and Wales and (2) investing its causes and consequences. We have created the first systematic dataset of election violence events for all 20 General Elections between 1832 and 1914, which can now be explored through our interactive map at http://victorianelectionviolence.uk/interactive-map/. The full report-level dataset is currently being cleaned and checked and will be made available via the UK Data Archive in September 2022. This unique dataset forms the basis of our empirical analysis of the causes and consequences of 19th-century election violence, as well as our ongoing policy and educational impact activities. To date, the project has yielded a series of novel insights with the potential to reshape the 19th-century historical literature on elections and the political science literature on election violence and British political development. First, our large-scale systematic data collection from contemporary newspapers and parliamentary and commission reports revealed that election violence was far more common than the existing literature suggests. Across the 20 General Elections, we record over 2,900 violent events occurring in almost all inhabited locations throughout England and Wales. Compared to Wasserman and Jaggard (2007), the main alternative data source on 19th-century election violence, we find between 2 and 6 times the number of events per election between 1832 and 1880. Similarly, while existing research notes that deaths from election violence were a relatively rare occurrence, our systematic data collection identified 92 unique deaths due to election violence within the period. Second, there is a striking inverted u-shaped temporal pattern of election violence: it starts at a fairly low level with around 100 events per election and 25% of all constituencies affected between 1832 and 1859, before increasing to around 300 events per election and nearly 45% of constituencies affected between 1865 and 1885, and then falling rapidly to around 100 events per election on average and 15% of all constituencies experiencing at least one event from 1886 until the end of the period. This pattern is new and has not been identified or discussed in any of the previous historical or political science literature. There is no regional pattern or specific geographic clusters throughout the time period under investigation. Third, our qualitative analysis of the various event reports suggests that election violence events generally fall into one of three categories. First, violence is often seen as the semi-spontaneous by-product of the electoral carnival, which is the dominant view of election violence in most of the existing historical literature. Because elections across most of the time period were held out in the open involving entertainment of various sorts and (crucially) a large amount of free alcohol provided by the candidates, conflict could breakout about minor incidents (including the amount of alcohol provided). In other cases, candidates or their agents encouraged and strategically used violence to influence the outcome of an election. This form of election violence ranged from targeted intimidation or kidnapping of voters to bringing in hired roughs (so-called bullies, bludgeon men, or lambs) to physically prevent electors from being able to cast their vote on polling day. This is the predominant form the political science literature conceptualizes and discusses election violence. The third category of electoral violence is that of popular expression by the disenfranchised in order to affect the outcome and make their voices heard. Until 1885 most men and women were not allowed to vote and even after 1885 only about 60% of all men and no women could cast a ballot. This meant that 70% or more of the population did not have the right to vote. Using violence to intimidate or influence the vote of electors or celebrating/bemoaning their favorite candidate's victory was a way to ensure that their voices were heard. Our analysis revealed that election violence in the 19th-century is a multi-faceted phenomenon involving different sets of actors with different motivations, which has not been appreciated adequately by either the historical or political science literature on the topic. Our typology also highlights the importance of politics with regard to election violence patterns, which has been downplayed by the pre-dominant cultural focus of the historical literature on the subject. Finally, with regard to the cause of election violence, we have to date investigated the role of contestation, party development, and the impact of security sector reforms. In line with contemporary literature on election violence, we find that contestation is strongly and robustly associated with election violence. On average, contested elections are 24 percentage points more likely to experience a violent event of some sort compared to uncontested elections. With regard to party development, our analysis revealed that local electoral party slates (i.e., candidates of the same political party running a joint election campaign) significantly increase the likelihood of violence, while the emergence of national party organizations in the aftermath of the Third Reform Act was associated with a reduction in election violence. This suggests that the formation of strong lasting parties as national political organizations can reduce violence compared to weak local parties formed for short-term electoral gains, which holds important policy implications for combating contemporary election violence. Lastly, with regard to security sector reform, our analysis reveals that the professionalization of the police during the first half of the 19th-century significantly reduced election violence, especially the occurrence of riots and large-scale election-related disturbances. Existing case studies from contemporary contexts have found that security sector reform focusing on the independence and professionalization of police forces can be an effective instrument in reducing election violence, we provide the first large-scale quantitative evidence to support this conclusion. Due to significant disruptions by the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of the investigators' research time (due to homeschooling), the cancellation of conferences, workshops, and dissemination events, and the closure of national, regional, and local archives, progress on outputs has been significantly impacted. The project was given a COA extension (#51 ES/P007775/1) of 6 months, which allowed us to complete some (although more limited) of the planned archival work, but has not fully able to compensate for the time lost given ongoing Covid-19 related restrictions. Hence, we are still somewhat behind with the project's outputs and impact activities but remain committed to achieving the grant's goals in the coming years. |
| Exploitation Route | We are still in the process of writing up our findings in academic papers, which have and will be presented at international conferences of the European Political Science Association (EPSA) (June 2021 and 2022) and APSA (September 2021) and leading international universities (Amsterdam 2021, Manchester 2022, Princeton 2021, Uppsala 2021, University Colege London 2022). Two of the working papers listed under outputs are currently under review with leading peer-reviewed history (Past & Present) and political science (Political Analysis) journals. Our dataset will be made available soon through the project's website and the UK Data Archive in September 2022. We have also recently submitted a follow-up grant application entitled "Exploiting Digitized Candidate Election Communications to Understand Democratic Development: The Rise of Programmatic Politics in Britain, 1832-1914", which explores the emergence of programmatic politics in 19th-century election campaigns and significantly draws on the team's experience of working with historical newspaper data and will draw on and use event data from this project. |
| Sectors | Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other |
| URL | http://victorianelectionviolence.uk/ |
| Description | To date the findings from this project have been used in two ways: First, using the project's main findings outlined in the article "Election Violence in England and Wales, 1832-1914", the project's database displayed on the interactive map (http://victorianelectionviolence.uk/interactive-map/), and the project's blog (http://victorianelectionviolence.uk/blog-2/), we have developed KS3 educational material fitting into the history and SMSC/Citizen curriculum of UK secondary schools. Supported by an ESRC IAA grant from Durham University the material has been developed and successfully been pre-tested in collaboration with Thomas Mills High School in Suffolk. It is now available via the educational platform TES and has been viewed 133 times and downloaded 49 times. Second, together with Beamish Museum, we have co-developed an immersive learning activity for KS3 students around the 1868 North Durham election. Students serve as election agents to the various candidates and aim to secure their candidates' election in the built-up environment of the outdoor museum. Through the immersion and direct experience of the mechanics of electioneering and subsequent critical reflection on the issues and consequences of 19th-century elections, they gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of democracy as a fundamental British value, its electoral history, and contemporary electoral practices. The learning activity has been piloted and evaluated in late 2022 with four KS3 classes from three Northeast Secondary Schools. This project has also been supported by an ESRC IAA grant from Durham University. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Costed Extension due to Covid Disruptions for UKRI Grant ES/P007775/1 |
| Amount | £105,733 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | COA Extension #51 |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Description | ESRC Impact Accelerator Account Mentoring Scheme |
| Amount | £1,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2020 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Description | Research Impact Fund |
| Amount | £1,950 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2020 |
| End | 12/2020 |
| Description | Understanding British Democracy Through an Investigation of Nineteenth Century Elections |
| Amount | £14,358 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Department | Durham University ESRC Impact Acceleration Account |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2022 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Title | Election Violence Event Database 1832-1914 |
| Description | This database records election violence events reported in newspaper articles and Parliamentary papers for all 20 general elections between 1832 and 1914. The database records a summary of the event, location, date, type of violence, causes and associations mentioned, consequences mentioned, and the identity of people involved. We have identified over 21,000 relevant newspaper articles, electoral petitions, and commission reports on election violence, containing over 21,000 event reports, and over 5,000 unique events of election violence. The database will be made public at the end of the grant. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | No impact to date, but used in engagement activity, such as the #OTD tweets and blog posts. |
| Title | Newspaper Press Directories 1847, 1856, 1868, 1885, and 1910 |
| Description | Digitization of "The Newspaper Press Directory" by Charles Mitchell for the years 1847, 1856, 1868, 1885, and 1910. The database records the location of the publication, title, publication frequency, cost, partisanship, founding year, and the name of the proprietor. The database will be made publically available through the UK Data Archive. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This dataset is the first systematic recording of the partisanship patterns in the 19th century UK press. This allows researchers to evaluate newspaper content in the knowledge of the newspaper partisan leaning, which should increase analytical rigor. |
| Title | Package durhamevp |
| Description | The package contains R-code to access, download, and manipulate the event data collected for the ESRC/AHRC funded project Causes and Consequences of Election Violence: Evidence from England and Wales 1832-1914. |
| Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | No impact to date |
| URL | https://github.com/gidonc/durhamevp |
| Title | Teaching Material "Understanding British Democracy (Interactive Map)" |
| Description | By contrasting 19th-century electoral practices using an interactive map of violent events with today's elections, pupils develop a deeper understanding of British democratization and a critical appreciation of democracy as a fundamental British value. The research-based teaching resources, fitting KS 3 history, and KS 3/4 citizenship/SMSC curriculum, highlight that democratization involves not just universal suffrage, but also the establishment and respect of political rights that enable elections to serve as instruments of democracy. The resource is based on an ESRC/AHRC-funded research project completed at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs and consists of 5 lessons, complete with detailed teacher notes, Powerpoint slides, and worksheets. Lesson 1 develops pupils understanding of the key terminology used and gives pupils an idea of what nineteenth-century elections were like. Lesson 2 examines the causes of Election violence in the 19th century and uses this to uncover the problems with both 19th-century elections and democracy. This lesson involves the use of an online interactive map, which allows pupils to explore violent events in their region and identify potential causes. Lesson 3 focuses on the impact that electoral reforms had on election violence prior to the First World War. Finally, lesson 4 (citizenship focus) and lesson 5 (history focus) round of the lessons by focusing on the citizenship or history aspect of the topic. The citizenship lesson looks at the state of democracy in the world and the UK today and involves pupils researching and developing a campaign to encourage more young people to vote in the UK today. The history lesson involves pupils researching a (local) election violence incident from the interactive map in more depth using the primary newspaper sources cited. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The resource has been viewed 133 times, downloaded 49 times, and has received 2 5-star reviews. |
| URL | https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12712450 |
| Description | Educational Impact |
| Organisation | Beamish The Living Museum of the North |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The project has three workpackages (WP): WP1 develops ready-to-use teaching and learning materials targeted at KS3 students, focusing on Citizenship (part of the statutory requirement for schools to promote fundamental British values, including the fundamental British value of democracy) and History (ideas, political power, industry, and empire: Britain, 1745-1901) in the National Curriculum. The material will consist of three lesson plans, covering (1) the workings of 19th-century elections (i.e., public voting pre-1872 and restricted franchise) and its associated phenomena, in particular bribery, intimidation, and violence, (2) changes in electoral practices and attempts to reduce the use of bribery and violence, and (3) how 19th-century elections compare to contemporary British elections as instruments of democracy. The material draws on the 19th-century election violence project's interactive map and blog posts, enabling students to engage with their local electoral history, and has been advertised and made available through the TES educational resources website. The teaching material has been pre-tested and refined in early 2022 in collaboration with the history department at Thomas Mills High School in Suffolk, UK. WP2 co-creates an immersive learning activity in collaboration with Beamish based on the 1868 election in North Durham. Students serve as election agents to the various candidates and aim to secure their candidates' election in the built-up environment of the outdoor museum. Through the immersion and direct experience of the mechanics of electioneering and subsequent critical reflection on the issues and consequences of 19th-century elections, they gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of democracy as a fundamental British value, its electoral history, and contemporary electoral practices. The learning activity was piloted and evaluated with four KS3 classes from Durham Johnston School, the North Durham Academy, and Parkside Academy Willington. WP3 engages the wider public by sharing the uncovered information about local 19th-century electoral events collected in the first systematic event database of 19th-century violence with local history societies and tourism boards across England and Wales. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The lead of the history department at Thomas Mills High School tested the teaching material with one of their KS3 year groups and provided qualitative feedback. Preparation, teaching, and feedback time are estimated to amount to about 15 hours. Beamish's Head of Learning (Simon Woolley) is providing knowledge and expertise on the development of the immersive learning experience, the museum infrastructure, and the trained staff to run the pilot events. His in-kind contribution in terms of time is estimated to be two full working weeks. The three participating Secondary Schools from the NE have all sent teachers to a development and training day and to a feedback and evaluation session. Moreover, they have used two pre-activity lessons to prepare the pupils and one post-activity lesson to consolidate the learning. Overall, each school's contribution is therefore roughly 17 hours. |
| Impact | In collaboration with Beamish, we have written a joint application for funding to the ESRC IAA scheme at Durham University in November 2021 to fund the pilot. It was approved and the learning activity is currently being developed and piloting school recruited. To date, we have secured the collaboration of one large Secondary School in Durham County. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Practitioner Committee |
| Organisation | Westminster Foundation for Democracy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Westminster Foundation for Democracy hosted a mid-project practitioner workshop at their Headquarters on the 19th of September 2019. The workshop was attended by election and violence practitioners from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Peace Direct, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FOC), Creatives Associates, the Department of International Development (DFID), and a colleague from the University College London (UCL). Upon completing our first outputs, we have shared our first Policy Brief with all partners on the project in December 2021. As our research continues further policy briefs and outputs will be shared. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They provided the venue and catering for the event and help with the advertisement. |
| Impact | This was a mid-project discussion aimed at us sharing the current state of the academic election violence literature with practitioners and getting input from them on what analysis would be most useful for them to develop/improve practice. In December 2021 we have also provided a policy brief on our findings and what they imply for contemporary efforts to mitigate election violence. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Guest Blog Post on Victorian Commons Blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Guest blog post on the Victorian Commons Blog describing and advertising the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/victorian-election-violence-project/ |
| Description | History of Violence Podcast Interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview on the History of Violence Podcast outlining the project and its initial findings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://podcasts.apple.com/my/podcast/interview-victorian-election-violence-project/id1474469739?i=1... |
| Description | Keynote at the PSA's 2022 Elections, Parties and Public Opinion Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Prof. Nick Vivyan held the Keynote at the annual meeting of the PSA's Election, Parties, and Public Opinion Meeting summarizing the main insights from the project so far. In addition to academics, this conference is also attended by practitioners in related fields, such as polling companies, and NGOs working on civic education around elections. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at the 150 Anniversary of the 1872 Secret Ballot Act |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr. Gary Hutchison gave an online presentation at the History of Parliament's event on the 150 years Anniversary of the 1872 Secret Ballot Act, which was attended live by over 100 participants and shared on Youtube, where it has been watched over 220 times. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFZnsiaDaeQ |
| Description | Project Twitter Account |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Project Twitter account on which we advertise new blog posts, run a series of "On This Day Tweets" (#OTD) highlighting historical events of election violence, images of election violence and their historical background (#VicEVPicFriday), share descriptive patterns from our database, and discuss initial findings from our research. It is also a way for us to connect and link-up with other related projects and organisations. To date, we have sent over 1700 tweets (#OTD tweets on the 1832, 1865, 1868, and 1880 elections) and have over 1,200 followers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/VictorianEV_UK |
| Description | Project Website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Launch of project website containing a description of the project, videos, and a weekly blog with short narratives of election violence events by members of the research team. In the near future, the website will also host the project's publications, an interactive map of the database, and links to the data on the UK Data Archive. The website has attracted over 18,500 unique visitors. Over 50 blog posts have been published. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023 |
| URL | http://victorianelectionviolence.uk |
| Description | RHUL Video |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The History Hub within the Citizen Project hosted at the Royal Holloway University London created a short video of the project summarizing the main qualitative findings of the project to date. To date it has been watched over 533 times. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNe37hWfxsA |
| Description | Riots and Roughs: The Violent Origins of English Electoral Democracy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences we held an interactive hybrid event on the evening of the 24th of October 2022, which consisted of a talk for the general audience, one for secondary schools on the teaching material we created, and a reception, at which attendees could interact with the event database on a large interactive screen. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Royal Armouries Museum Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public Talk in the Winter Lecture Series of the Royal Armouries Museum Leeds. Due to the pandemic, the event was held online and can be viewed online. A pre- and post-talk incentivized survey was completed to capture participants' change in views, knowledge, and opinions. To date, the video was watched over 2,318 times. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpSl5-vGqs&t=669s |
| Description | Talk on the Secret Ballot and Election Violence at History of Parliament Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Talk given on the effects of the Secret Ballot Act (1872) on election violence in England and Wales at a public engagement event run online by History of Parliament in July 2022. These events are generally attended by a mixed audience, including academics, policy makers, and MPs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |