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Prevent Violence, Strengthen Democracy: Electoral Codes Of Conduct For The United States, Cathy Buerger, Tonei Glavinic

Peace and Conflict Studies

As the events of 2020 and January 2021 demonstrated, the United States is not immune from election-related violence, yet efforts to reduce such violence are typically only used in the international development context rather than domestically. One strategy the U.S. advocates for in fledgling democracies is electoral codes of conduct – agreements in which politicians and parties agree to refrain from certain types of harmful speech and behavior, such as targeted harassment of marginalized groups, disinformation, and incitement to violence. In this paper, the authors analyze electoral codes of conduct around the world that restrict political speech in various contexts, …