Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (Problems of International Politics)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reissue, 8/16/2010
EAN 9780521882521, ISBN10: 0521882524
Hardcover, 536 pages, 23.4 x 15.6 x 3 cm
Language: English
Based on a detailed study of 35 cases in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and post-communist Eurasia, this book explores the fate of competitive authoritarian regimes between 1990 and 2008. It finds that where social, economic, and technocratic ties to the West were extensive, as in Eastern Europe and the Americas, the external cost of abuse led incumbents to cede power rather than crack down, which led to democratization. Where ties to the West were limited, external democratizing pressure was weaker and countries rarely democratized. In these cases, regime outcomes hinged on the character of state and ruling party organizations. Where incumbents possessed developed and cohesive coercive party structures, they could thwart opposition challenges, and competitive authoritarian regimes survived; where incumbents lacked such organizational tools, regimes were unstable but rarely democratized.
Part I. Introduction and Theory
1. Introduction
2. Explaining competitive authoritarian regime trajectories
international linkage and the organizational power of incumbents
Part II. High Linkage and Democratization
Eastern Europe and the Americas
3. Linkage, leverage, and democratization in Eastern Europe
4. Linkage, leverage, and democratization in Latin America and the Caribbean
Part III. The Dynamics of Competitive Authoritarianism in Low Linkage Regions
The Former Soviet Union, Africa, and Asia
5. The evolution of post-Soviet competitive authoritarianism
6. Africa
transitions without democratization
7. Diverging outcomes in Asia
8. Conclusion
Appendix. Measuring competitive authoritarianism and authoritarian stability.
Advance praise: 'This landmark contribution to the comparative study of political regimes will be widely read and cited. In an epic act of theoretical synthesis, Levitsky and Way weave careful empirical research on three-dozen countries across five world regions into a convincing account of patterns of regime change. In distinguishing democratic transitions from a range of authoritarian outcomes, they reach nuanced conclusions about the relative explanatory influence of international factors (linkage and leverage) and domestic power politics (rulers versus oppositions). Above all, they help us understand how autocrats learn to live with elections. Strongly recommended.' Michael Bratton, University Distinguished Professor of Political Science and African Studies, Michigan State University