Democratic Authoritarianism
Origins and Effects
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6232973 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dawn Brancati (0000-0003-0392-7154, Department of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 313-326 |
| Publication date | 2014-05-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Political Science (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1094-2939 • E-ISSN: 1545-1577 |
| Publisher | Annual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1146/annurev-polisci-052013-115248 |
| OpenAlex | W2167810769 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 122 |
| References cited | 47 |
This article reviews the burgeoning literature on democratic authoritarianism, which examines two related but distinct questions: why authoritarian regimes adopt institutions conventionally associated with democracy, and how these institutions strengthen authoritarian regimes and forestall democratization. The literature suggests that authoritarian regimes adopt and utilize nominally democratic institutions to augment their strength through five main mechanisms: signaling, information acquisition, patronage distribution, monitoring, and credible commitment. After evaluating each of these mechanisms, I discuss the empirical challenges facing this research agenda and suggest how the field should proceed to overcome these challenges
Authoritarianism · Democracy · Democratization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Religion and Society Interactions
Political Connections of Chinese Firms
Making the World Safe for Dictatorship
Humming Along
The Insurgent's Dilemma
Playing by the Informal Rules
The politics of autocratic survival in Equatorial Guinea
Alle origini del costituzionalismo contemporaneo
Academic freedom challenged
Do dictators signal strength with electoral fraud
Bureaucratic discrimination in electoral authoritarian regimes
The Meddling American Voter? How Norms, Interests, and Great Power Rivalries Affect U.S. Public Support for Partisan Electoral Interventions Abroad
Popular Dictatorships
Hybrid Constitutionalism
Constraining Dictatorship
The Geography of Constituency Service in an Autocracy
When Will an Authoritarian Regime Concede? A Framework for Strategic Campaigning through Issue Selection and Framing
Authoritarian legalism and media capture in Burkina Faso
(Don't) fear the bad leader
The peculiar personality of strongmen
Taking partly free voters seriously
Elite Fractures, Public Capture
Women’s descriptive representation and support for the inclusion of gender-related provisions in trade agreements
Restricting Democratic Choice in Thailand's 2019 Election
An expanded vital center? Alaskan rank choice voting and the throes of frontlash/backlash
Protest and repression in China’s digital surveillance state
The Politics of Co-optation
Russia as a Plebiscitary Democracy
Complementary Institutions in Authoritarian Regimes
Layers of Political Repression
Only game in town? the persistence of competitive authoritarian regimes in modern Turkey
When does bureaucracy function in autocratizing regimes? the court of auditors in Turkey
The Bangladesh party-state
Dealing with the Dark Side of Policy-Making
Lawmaking in a legislature without political parties
Mimicking the Mad Printer
The Role of Party Interest Articulation in the Personalist-Authoritarian Regimes of the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan
Does Electoral Manipulation Vary
Turkish Gender Studies’ Scholars
Exploiting Ideology and Making Higher Education Serve Vietnam’s Authoritarian Regime
Varieties of Digital Authoritarianism
Institutionalising Authoritarian Presidencies
Deep Transitions
Refining the UN E-participation Index
Time for a haircut
Authoritarian legitimation
Taoism and current global crises
Revisiting demand, politicization and externalization in authoritarian political regimes
The People are Revolting’
Policy Learning, Policy Failure, and the Mitigation of Policy Risks
Exploring Citizen Initiated Contacts and the Role of Local Councilors in Problem Resolution
Grass through concrete
Everyday Nationalism
Decoding Legislative Dynamics
Erasing the place of dissent
Navigating authoritarian citizenship in India
Local Economic Development and the Performance of Municipal People’s Congress Deputies in China
Political Control
With a Little Help from the Opposition? Relaxing Term Limits in the Argentine Provinces, 1983–2017
No Success Without Approval
Legislative responsiveness, urban growth, and popular mobilization
Une loi sous influence
Unintended Consequences of Business Subsidies
Cleavages Under Communism
Respect the Process
Testing Legislator Responsiveness to Citizens and Firms in Single-Party Regimes
Bolsonaro’s Botched Coup Attempt Exposed Political Fault Lines in the Brazilian Democracy
Participation Disenchants
You should care by prohibiting all this obscenity
The institutionalization of relative advantage
Authoritarian Gender Equality Policy Making
Messaging Apps
Anti-regime Uprisings and the Emergence of Electoral Authoritarianism
Corruption, Elite Contestation, and Parliaments
Taking Authoritarian Anti-Corruption Reform Seriously
Budgetary change in authoritarian and democratic regimes
The Surprising Instability of Competitive Authoritarianism
Resisting autocratization
A Zero-Sum Game? Repression and Protest in China
Inequality under Authoritarian Rule
Keeping control of regulation? Domestic constraints on the creation of independent authorities in emerging and developing economies
Discursive accommodation
When does women’s political power matter? Women’s representation and legal gender equality of economic opportunity across contexts
Oil, elections and fiscal transparency
Legislative performance of the Russian State Duma
Justice institutions in autocracies
Relevance and electoralism in the study of political oppositions
The trajectories of personalization
Subnational executive offices as stepping-stones to defeat authoritarian leaders
Battleground
Why dictators veto
Not just rubber-stamping
Reneging and the subversion of protest-driven policy change in autocracies
Elections, legitimacy, and compliance in authoritarian regimes
Unpacking political parties in autocracies
Between elites and opposition
Mechanisms of democratic authoritarianism
Political leadership and the construction of competitive authoritarian regimes in Latin America
Authoritarian Amendments
Legislatures and Policy Making in Authoritarian Regimes
Legislatures and Legislative Politics Without Democracy
Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization
Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China
The Politics of Authoritarian Rule
Peripheral Visions
The Role of Institutions in the Revival of Trade
The curse of aid
Politics in Time
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Competitive Clientelism in Jordanian Elections
Political Institutions under Dictatorship
Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism
Why Governments and Parties Manipulate Elections
Competitive Authoritarianism
Democracy and Redistribution
Intellectual Property Protection and U.S. Foreign Direct Investment
Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization
Clientelism and Voting Behavior
Defeating Dictators
Private Investment and the Institutionalization of Collective Action in Autocracies
Enough! Electoral Fraud, Collective Action Problems, and Post-Communist Colored Revolutions
On the Incidence of Civil War in Africa
Third-party Interventions and the Duration of Intrastate Conflicts
Rushing to the Polls
How Do Natural Resources Influence Civil War? Evidence from Thirteen Cases
Refugees and the Spread of Civil War
Pocketbook Protests
Authoritarian Institutions and the Survival of Autocrats
Do Authoritarian Institutions Constrain? How Legislatures Affect Economic Growth and Investment
Who Delivers? Partisan Clients in the Argentine Electoral Market
Unbundling the Relationship between Authoritarian Legislatures and Political Risk
Authoritarian Institutions and Regime Survival
Election Timing in Majoritarian Parliaments
Tying the King's Hands
Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic
Elections and Distributive Politics in Mubarak's Egypt
Global instances of coups from 1950 to 2010
How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression
The Adverse Effects of Sunshine
Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War
Nodding or Needling
Contra Contractarianism
| Unique citing works | 122 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 11,09 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 121 |