chapter 7 - authoritarian regimes + democratic breakdown

Question 1

authoritarianism

Answer 1

a form of government or regime that is non-democratic

Question 2

authoritarian regime

Answer 2

a non-democratic regime

Question 3

democratic breakdown

Answer 3

the process thru which a democratic regime partially or completely loses its democratic status

Question 4

authoritarian persistence

Answer 4

the ongoing continuation of an authoritarian regime, such that democratic transition does not take place

Question 5

hybrid regimes

Answer 5

a class of regime that appears to be neither fully democratic nor fully authoritarian

Question 6

What are some examples of hybrid regimes?

Answer 6

electoral authoritarianism, illiberal democracy, delegative democracy

Question 7

totalitarian regime

Answer 7

a form of authoritarian regime that aims to control everything about the lives of its subject population

Question 8

What are some examples of totalitarian regimes?

Answer 8

the Soviet Union; Germany under the Nazis

Question 9

theocracy

Answer 9

an authoritarian state controlled by religious leaders, or a state with very strict religious restrictions that uses religion as its main mode of legitimation

Question 10

personalistic dictatorship

Answer 10

a form of authoritarianism in which the personality of the dictator is highlighted

Question 11

bureaucratic-authoritarian regime

Answer 11

a type of authoritarian regime that was associated with control of the state more by a group of elites, often the military, than by a single individual leader

Question 12

When and where do we see bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes persist?

Answer 12

most common/persistent in Latin America (elsewhere too) in the mid-to-late twentieth century

Question 13

illiberal democracy

Answer 13

a polity with some democratic features but in which political + civil rights are not all guaranteed or protected

Question 14

delegative democracy

Answer 14

a hybrid form of regime that is democratic but involves the electorate “delegating” significant authority to a government

Question 15

electoral authoritarianism

Answer 15

a name applied to situations in which authoritarian regimes nominally compete in elections

Question 16

competitive authoritarianism

Answer 16

a form of gov’t or regime that allows some political competition but not enough to qualify as fully democratic

Question 17

Under what circumstances do we usually classify a regime as authoritarian?

Answer 17

if something favors hierarchy and closed decision-making processes

Question 18

What are some characteristics of totalitarian regimes?

Answer 18

1. deny civil rights to citizens
2. tend to not hold free + fair elections
3. propagating a particular overarching ideology
4. efforts to intervene freedom of thought
5. usually one official party w/ dominant leader, towards which there is a hero/cultish worship

Question 19

What are 3 recent examples of personalistic dictatorships?

Answer 19

1. Mobutu Sese Seko in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
2. Jean-Bedel Bokassa in the Central African Republic
3. Idi Amin in Uganda