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The Institutional Turn in Comparative Authoritarianism

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  • Pepinsky, Thomas

Abstract

The institutional turn in comparative authoritarianism has generated wide interest. This article reviews three prominent books on authoritarian institutions and their central theoretical propositions about the origins, functions and effects of dominant party institutions on authoritarian rule. Two critical perspectives on political institutions, one based on rationalist theories of institutional design and the other based on a social conflict theory of political economy, suggest that authoritarian institutions are epiphenomenal on more fundamental political, social and/or economic relations. Such approaches have been largely ignored in this recent literature, but each calls into question the theoretical and empirical claims that form the basis of institutionalist approaches to authoritarian rule. A central implication of this article is that authoritarian institutions cannot be studied separately from the concrete problems of redistribution and policy making that motivate regime behavior.

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  • Pepinsky, Thomas, 2014. "The Institutional Turn in Comparative Authoritarianism," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 631-653, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:44:y:2014:i:03:p:631-653_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Scott L. Greer & Benjamin Trump, 2019. "Regulation and regime: the comparative politics of adaptive regulation in synthetic biology," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 52(4), pages 505-524, December.
    2. Christian Bjørnskov & Stefan Voigt, 2022. "Terrorism and emergency constitutions in the Muslim world," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(3), pages 305-318, May.
    3. Vasilyeva, Olga & Libman, Alexander, 2020. "Varieties of authoritarianism matter: Elite fragmentation, natural resources and economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Maria J. Debre, 2022. "Clubs of autocrats: Regional organizations and authoritarian survival," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 485-511, July.
    5. Wahman, Michael & Basedau, Matthias, 2015. "Electoral Rentierism? The Cross-National and Subnational Effect of Oil on Electoral Competitiveness in Multiparty Autocracies," GIGA Working Papers 272, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    6. Ivan Grigoriev, 2018. "Why Dismiss a Good Case? Dual-Purpose Judicial Institutions In Constitutional Courts Under Autocracy: Evidence from Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 60/PS/2018, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    7. Barbara Krug & Alexander Libman, 2015. "Commitment to local autonomy in non-democracies: Russia and China compared," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 221-245, June.
    8. von Soest, Christian & Grauvogel, Julia, 2015. "How Do Non-Democratic Regimes Claim Legitimacy? Comparative Insights from Post-Soviet Countries," GIGA Working Papers 277, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    9. Schlumberger, Oliver, 2021. "Puzzles of political change in the Middle East: Political liberalisation, authoritarian resilience and the question of systemic change," IDOS Discussion Papers 5/2021, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    10. Stephan Haggard, 2021. "The Autocratic Middle Class: How State Dependency Reduces the Demand for Democracy by Bryn Rosenfeld, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2020, x + 276 pp," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 59(2), pages 233-236, June.

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