Political Institutions under Dictatorship
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 10/7/2010
EAN 9780521155717, ISBN10: 0521155711
Paperback, 256 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm
Language: English
Often dismissed as window dressing, nominally democratic institutions, such as legislatures and political parties, play an important role in non-democratic regimes. In a comprehensive cross-national study of all non-democratic states from 1946 to 2002 that examines the political uses of these institutions by dictators, Jennifer Gandhi finds that legislative and partisan institutions are an important component in the operation and survival of authoritarian regimes. She examines how and why these institutions are useful to dictatorships in maintaining power. In their efforts to neutralize threats to their power and to solicit cooperation from society, autocratic leaders use these institutions to organize concessions to potential opposition. The use of legislatures and parties to co-opt opposition results in significant institutional effects on policies and outcomes under dictatorship.
1. The world of dictatorial institutions
2. Three illustrative cases
3. The use of institutions to co-opt
4. Institutions and policies under dictatorship
5. Institutions and outcomes under dictatorship
6. Institutions and the survival of dictators.