Case Studies

Outfoxing the Oligarchs in Latvia

How a tiny Baltic republic succeeded in taking its oligarchs down a peg.

BY GABRIEL KURIS | MAY 6, 2013

Policing Electoral Violence in India

How India's elections administration used “vulnerability mapping” to stop trouble before it happened.

BY MICHAEL SCHARFF | MARCH 21, 2013

Cooling Ethnic Conflict in Guyana's Elections

Guyana's 2001 presidential election left the country deeply divided along ethnic lines. In 2006, they decided to try something new.

BY VARANYA CHAUBEY, AMY MAWSON, GABRIEL KURIS | MARCH 13, 2013

Paving the Way for Mandela's Election

Organizing the first post-apartheid election in 1994 took a lot of logistical planning and political inclusion. But it also took a lot of creativity in finding  solutions to the numerous problems that arose.

BY AMY MAWSON | JANUARY 28, 2013

Avoiding War Number Two in Liberia

A war-torn country is not a broken country. How Liberia pulled off its 2005 election.

BY MICHAEL SCHARFF | JANUARY 11, 2013

Changing the Code on Corruption

How a Brazilian government commission tried to fight back against sleaze.

BY DEEPA IYER | JANUARY 2, 2013

The Anti-Godfather

How a mayor set out to save a Sicilian city from neglect and Mafia influence.

BY LAURA BACON, RUSHDA MAJEED | DECEMBER 10, 2012

Rebooting the Bureaucracy in Georgia

As Georgian voters prepare to vote in a crucial parliamentary election, a look back at one of the signature programs of President Mikheil Saakashvili. 

BY RICHARD BENNET | SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

Taking on the Gangs in Cape Town

How local officials in a township in post-apartheid South Africa confronted the challenge of gang violence.

BY RICHARD BENNET | SEPTEMBER 17, 2012

The City with a Short Fuse

How a shrewd politician defused ethnic tension and improved public services in one of Indonesia’s most dysfunctional cities.

BY RUSHDA MAJEED | SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

The Great Ballot Box Caper

How do you conduct an election when contending political forces don't agree on the rules? An unlikely study in compromise from Northern Ireland in 2005.

BY MICHAEL SCHARFF | SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Rebuilding the Police in Kosovo

In the wake of its war with the Serbs, Kosovo faced a yawning law enforcement gap. Here's how the international community helped an embyronic country rebuild its police.

BY MORGAN GREENE, JONATHAN FRIEDMAN, RICHARD BENNET | JULY 18, 2012

The Battle for Bihar

Sleaze still plagues India. But one place is fighting back.

BY SUDIP MAZUMDAR | JANUARY 25, 2012

Making Up Is Hard to Do

As the Arab Spring countries are about to learn, reconciliation is hard, grinding work.

BY CHARLES VILLA-VICENCIO | JANUARY 17, 2012