Elections Without Democracy: The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism
Выборы без демократии: Растущая конкурирующая авторитарность
2002-04-01
SCID: 54.1/fv9m9kkp
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competitive authoritarianismdemocratic rules with authoritarian governancehybrid political regimespost-Cold War regime changeregional cases: Africa, postcommunist Eurasia, Asia, Latin America
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Abstract (AI)
The post-Cold War world has been marked by the proliferation of hybrid political regimes. In different ways, and to varying degrees, polities across much of Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe), postcommunist Eurasia (Albania, Croatia, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine), Asia (Malaysia, Taiwan), and Latin America (Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru) combined democratic rules with authoritarian governance during the 1990s. Scholars often treated these regimes as incomplete or transitional forms of democracy. Yet in many cases these expectations (or hopes) proved overly optimistic. Particularly in Africa and the former Soviet Union, many regimes have either remained hybrid or moved in an authoritarian direction. It may therefore be time to stop thinking of these cases in terms of transitions to democracy and to begin thinking about the specific types of regimes they actually are.
Key Findings
1
Countries in Africa, postcommunist Eurasia, Asia, and Latin America exhibited such hybrid regimes during the 1990s (examples listed).
2
In many cases—especially in Africa and the former Soviet Union—regimes have remained hybrid or shifted toward greater authoritarianism rather than progressing to full democracy.
3
Scholars commonly treated these hybrid regimes as incomplete or transitional democracies, but that interpretation has often been overly optimistic.
4
Since the post-Cold War period, hybrid political regimes that mix democratic rules with authoritarian governance have proliferated across multiple regions.
5
The paper argues for reframing analysis away from expecting transitions to democracy and toward identifying and classifying the specific types of competitive authoritarian regimes that actually exist.
Research Object
Hybrid political regimes combining democratic rules with authoritarian governance in post-Cold War countries
Research Subject
The rise, persistence, and classification of competitive authoritarianism (regimes that blend electoral democracy with authoritarian practices) across regions and their deviation from expected transitions to democracy
Publication Details
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2002-04-01
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