POL101Y1 Chapter 4: Chapter 4NOTE.docx
Document Summary
Authoritarian regimes are legitimate when they are seen as the most appropriate form of government for their country. When it does not deliver what the people expect in exchange for authoritarian rule over order and economic development it forfeits its only basis of legitimacy. However, changing international circumstances increased the sense that authoritarian regimes lack legitimacy not only among its people but among powerful states globally. Although force is somewhat necessary to compel compliance and punish behavior directed against the system, it is not the only thing backing a regime there must be a large majority of the population that believe in the regime. Divisions within the leadership of the regime or the support base of the regime are major factors in democratic transition. Usually the ruler loses its will/ cohesion before it loses its power. They lose this power when they become unneeded due to poor economic and political performance.
