Authoritarian 2: What Autocracies Are and How They Begin

Question 1

Restriction on political Parties

Answer 1

complete ban on parties (Pinochet Chile) vs only minor restriction (PRI Mexico)

Question 2

Why is is hard to classify Autocracies?

Answer 2

• formal institutions may be utterly meaningless
• ideal types are neither mutually exclusive nor collectively exhaustive
• collapses and classifies based on conceptually distinct dimensions of authoritarian politics

Question 3

What are the ways of analyzing Authoritarian Politcis?

Answer 3

1. autocratic spells on the country level
2. leadership tenures on the leader level
3. regime durations on the regime/ruling coalition level

Question 4

What are regimes?

Answer 4

1. autocratic spells on the country level
2. leadership tenures on the leader level
3. regime durations on the regime/ruling coalition level

Question 5

What are regimes?

Answer 5

they are (often informal) rules that identify the group which leaders can come and that determine leadership choice and policy decisions

Question 6

What are Autocracies?

Answer 6

whatever is not a democracy (a residual category)

Question 7

Can Autocratic institutions be taken at face value?

Answer 7

No. they have questionable relevance of formal institutions.

Question 8

On the Polity Index, list governments from MOST democratic to MOST Autocratic

Answer 8

Liberal Democracy, Electoral Democracy, (transitions to Authoritarian Democracy) Electoral Autocracy, Closed Autocracy

Question 9

What are the two criteria for a democracy

Answer 9

1. free and independent legislative elections
2. executive is elected in free and competitive presidential elections or indirectly by a legislature

Question 10

What is a minimalist def of Autocracy/dictatorship

Answer 10

an independent country that fails at least one of the two criteria for democracy

Question 11

What is an Autocratic Spell

Answer 11

an uninterrupted period of autocratic rule

Question 12

What are the problems with typologies in Authoritarian Politics?

Answer 12

1. collapses and classifies based on conceptually distinct dimensions of authoritarian politics
2. ideal types are neither mutually exclusive nor collectively exhaustive

Question 12

What are three types of Autocracies?

Answer 12

1. Military Dictatorship
2. Single-Party dictatorships
3. personalist regimes

Question 13

When do most autocratic spells begin

Answer 13

in a newly independent countries or after democratic breakdown

Question 14

typologies vs Theoretical dimensions of Authoritarian Politics

Answer 14

Maybe it would be better to think in terms of dimensions of political organization in autocracies

• Military involvement in politics (pureley civillian gov vs direct military involvment)
• Restriction on political Parties
  -Concentration of power

Question 14

Military involvement in politics

Answer 14

purely civilian gov (Communist Czech) vs direct military involvement (Argentina Junta)

Question 15

Concentration of power

Answer 15

wide power sharing (late PRI Mexico) vs Single Dictator (Stalin, Mao)

Question 16

Restriction on political Parties

Answer 16

complete ban on parties (Pinochet Chile) vs only minor restriction (PRI Mexico)

Question 17

What are the ways of analyzing Authoritarian Politcis?

Answer 17

1. leadership tenures on the leader level
2. regime durations on the regime/ruling coalition level
3. autocratic spells on the country level

Question 18

Why is is hard to classify Autocracies?

Answer 18

• formal institutions may be utterly meaningless
• ideal types are neither mutually exclusive nor collectively exhaustive
• collapses and classifies based on conceptually distinct dimensions of authoritarian politics

Question 19

What are regimes?

Answer 19

they are (often informal) rules that identify the group which leaders can come and that determine leadership choice and policy decisions

Question 20

Multiple Leaders can rule during an autocratic regime (T/F)

Answer 20

True. A single continuous autocratic spell can conceal multiple consecutive autocratic regimes

Question 21

Autocratic spells vs regime Duration country level data issues

Answer 21

Country level data overestimates the stability of authoritarian regimes and may bias our understanding of how they begin and how they work

Question 22

Leader Tenure vs regime Duration data issues

Answer 22

Leadership level data underestimates the stability of authoritarian regimes and may bias our understanding of how they begin and how they work

Question 23

How do Autocracies begin?

Answer 23

Ousters of incumbents usually occur when things go badly, i.e. when the economy is in trouble, when disorder and violence makes people unsafe and/or when scandals or arbitrary brutality has discredited incumbents.

Question 24

How are methods to replace an incumbent made?

Answer 24

strategic and reflects the resources, capacities, and comparative advantages of the seizure group

Question 24

Methods of insurgencies

Answer 24

are comparatively costly and rarely successful.

Question 25

Methods of Military officers

Answer 25

Methods of Military officers

Question 26

Methods of parties already in power

Answer 26

chose authoritarianization and change the rules of the game