Abstract
The article studies the determinants of autocratic power maintenance in light of autocratic elections. The analytical model includes repression, legitimation, and co-optation as key strategies to ensure autocratic stability. Corresponding regression analyses are conducted for up to 265 elections in 68 hegemonic and competitive authoritarian regimes between 1990 and 2009. The results underscore the necessity of distinguishing between different types of autocratic rule, as the analytical model cannot explain the electoral outcomes in competitive authoritarian regimes. Co-optation and hard repression reduce the probability of electoral defeat in hegemonic authoritarian regimes, while soft repression increases it and legitimation does not have a statistically significant effect. The findings are particularly relevant for the analysis of the relationship between the strategies of autocratic power maintenance, policy performance, and the persistence or breakdown of autocracies.
Translated title of the contribution | Elections, strategies of autocratic power maintenance and the survival of autocratic regimes |
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Original language | German |
Pages (from-to) | 329-355 |
Number of pages | 27 |
Journal | Zeitschrift fur Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 3-4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Dec 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2014, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Keywords
- Authoritarianism
- Cooptation
- Elections
- Legitimation
- Persistence
- Repression