Publications

Publicly Available Working Papers

Macdonald, Robert and Thomas Molony, Tips for Journalists and Editors who Cover Election Observation, (2023).

Macdonald, Robert and Thomas Molony, ‘Local Perceptions of Election Observation in Africa: Preliminary Findings’, (2022).

Macdonald, Robert and Thomas Molony, ‘Media Representations of Election Observation in Africa: Preliminary Findings’, (2022).

Macdonald, Robert and Thomas Molony, ‘Holding Elections during Future Pandemics and Other Emergencies: Evidence-Based Recommendations’, WFD Briefing Paper, (2021).

Molony, Thomas and Robert Macdonald, ‘Reducing the Transmission of COVID-19 during African Elections: Technical considerations’, (2021).

Lihiru, Victoria, Robert Macdonald and Thomas Molony, ‘COVID-19 and Tanzania’s 2020 Elections’, (2021).

Academic Publications

Macdonald, Robert, ‘Using Written Consent Forms When Conducting Non-Elite Qualitative Research: Reflections from Zambia’, Journal of Southern African Studies, (2024).

Macdonald, Robert and Thomas Molony, ‘Future Pandemics and Elections: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Central African Republic, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania’, Journal of African Elections, 22 (2), (2023), pp. 46-67.

Robert Macdonald, Thomas Molony, and Victoria Lihiru, ‘The Reception of Covid-19 Denialist Propaganda in Tanzania’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 49 (4), (2023), pp. 697-716.

Macdonald, Robert and Thomas Molony, ‘Can Domestic Observers Serve as Impartial Arbiters? Evidence from Zambia’s 2021 elections', Democratization, 30 (4), (2023), pp. 635-653.

Falisse, Jean-Benoît, Robert Macdonald, Thomas Molony and Paul Nugent, ‘Why Have so Many African Leaders Die of COVID-19?’, BMJ Global Health, 6 (5), (2021).

Molony, Thomas and Robert Macdonald, ‘Re-Evaluating International Observation of Kenya’s 2017 Elections’, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 13 (4), (2019), pp. 601-620.

Macdonald, Robert, ‘Age and Gender Voting Trends in the 2015 Tanzanian General Election’, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 12 (1), (2018), pp 44-62.

Macdonald, Robert, ‘The Limited Influence of Observer Statements on Public Opinion: A case study of Zambia’ in Thomas Molony (ed.) Election Observation at a Crossroads (Bloomsbury) [accepted].

Macdonald, Robert and Thomas Molony, Understandings of Election Observation [monograph under review at Boydell and Brewer].

Blog Posts and Newspaper Articles

Molony, Thomas and Robert Macdonald, ‘Election Observers are Important for Democracy – But Few Voters Know What They Do', The Conversation, February 23, 2023

Molony, Thomas and Robert Macdonald, ‘Election Observers are Important for Democracy – But Few Voters Know What They Do', The East African, March 9, 2023

Macdonald, Robert, ‘How should African countries hold elections during the pandemic?’. Democracy in Africa, 18 October 2021.

Macdonald, Robert, ‘How election observers facilitated Zambia’s smooth change of power’, African Arguments, 7 September 2021.

Macdonald, Robert, ‘How COVID-19 became a non-issue in Tanzania’s elections’, African Arguments, 25 February 2021.

Book Reviews

Macdonald, Robert, ‘My Life, My Purpose: A Tanzanian President Remembers’ by Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzanian Affairs, 126, 2020.

Macdonald Robert, ‘Building a Peaceful Nation: Julius Nyerere and the establishment of sovereignty in Tanzania, 1960-1964’ by Paul Bjerk, Tanzanian Affairs, 113, 2016, pp. 48-50.

Research Profiles

Cissokho, Sidy, ‘Les missions d’observation électorale, ces grandes incomprises’, Afrique XXI, 23 February 2024.