POLI 419 Chapter 0: Boix Carles and Milan Svolik - The Foundations of Limited Authoritarian Government
28 May 2016
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Boix, carles and milan svolik (2013) the foundations of limited authoritarian government: Institutions, commitment, and power-sharing in dictatorship" journal of politics 75:2 (2013) We argue that instutions promote the survival of dictatorships by facilitating authoritarian power-sharing. The vast majority of authoritarian regimes govern with the help of political insitutions such as parties and legislatures that may restrain their leaders autocratic tendencies. Power-sharing institutions stabilise dictatorships and lengthen dictators" tenures. Most dictators do not directly control enough resources to govern alone and therefore seek the support of notables with whom they promise to share power. Power-sharing in authoritarian regimes is therefore ultimately sustained by the ability of the dictator"s allies to credibly threaten a rebellion that would replace the dictator should he violate the power- sharing agreement. Because the threat of a rebellion is such a crude deterrent, the dictator and his allies would benefit from establishing political institutions that may alleviate these commitment and monitoring problems.
