lecture 7

Question 1

purpose of repressive institutions

Answer 1

preventive – it aims to monitor and deter opposition e.g. by blocking negative information, by discovering plots before they can organize and by undermining opposition groups.

Question 2

Institutions of Indirect Monitoring

Answer 2

Elections

Question 3

Institutions of Direct Monitoring

Answer 3

• Internal security agencies and secret police (a lot of focus on the inner circle, mostly civilian not military)
• manipulation, censorship, torture, assassination

Question 4

Internal Security Agencies and Secret Police

Answer 4

must be built from scratch, All of this makes rebelling against the dictator risky and costly
makes regimes live longer (seven years on average)

Question 5

3 Types of Paramilitary Forces

Answer 5

Armed civilian forces
- Help the regular military fight against insurgents.

Party militias
- Mostly cheap party adjuncts with only rudimentary training and light weapons.
- patrolling, keeping order and controlling ordinary citizens

Loyalist paramilitary forces
- Newly recruited from co-partisans or co-ethnics which increases their identification with the dictator.
- Help protect against coups from regular military officers

Question 6

party militia reasoning

Answer 6

to coopt those most likely to lead popular opposition (young men) by giving them a stake in regime survival.

Question 7

Controlling the Military

Answer 7

interfering with promotions:
- If the dictator is able to overrides these norms, he can reserve high ranks for loyalists

Of course, for those who are disadvantaged by this interference, opposition and coups become more attractive
- Therefore, the dictator is only likely to interfere when he has the support of paramilitary forces.

Question 8

special institutions that not only are autocratic, but also look ‘autocratic.’

Answer 8

the army, internal security police, and paramilitias

Question 9

Solutions to Relying on the Military for Repression

Answer 9

Create new party for support and decrease dependency on military

Create paramilitary forces to counterbalance the military.

Control the military and directly interfere with promotions.

Question 10

Two mechanisms why deterrence is successful:

Answer 10

Paramilitary forces stand or fall with the dictator, ensuring loyalty and making threats of violence credible.

More independent actors – regular military and loyalist paramilitary – increase collective action problem,
making coups less likely.

Question 11

Empirical Implications of paramilitary forces

Answer 11

Linked Fate Hypothesis
Whereas loyalist paramilitaries should increase the likelihood of interference with promotions, other types of
paramilitary force should not.

Collective Action Hypothesis
All kinds of paramilitary should increase the dictator’s likelihood of interfering with military promotions.