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Power-sharing ‘discontinuities’: Legitimacy, rivalry, and credibility

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  • Saurabh Pant

Abstract

Power-sharing arrangements between a leader and a popular outsider can be mutually beneficial and threatening. The literature has focused primarily on the former’s trade-off where a leader gains legitimacy when sharing power with a respected outsider but also subsequently creates a rival who could challenge their rule. Yet this outsider also faces a simultaneous trade-off between power and credibility in acquiescing to the leadership. I incorporate both coinciding trade-offs in developing a formal model to examine such power-sharing arrangements which have been prevalent historically and currently. I illustrate a ‘discontinuity’ in optimal power sharing where a leader either shares nothing or shares a specific amount to compensate the rival for the rival’s lost credibility. Counterintuitively, I further show that the leader should share more power with less trustworthy rivals to reduce their strong incentives to challenge. I then revisit the Investiture Controversy in medieval Europe using these insights from the model.

Suggested Citation

  • Saurabh Pant, 2018. "Power-sharing ‘discontinuities’: Legitimacy, rivalry, and credibility," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 30(1), pages 147-177, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:30:y:2018:i:1:p:147-177
    DOI: 10.1177/0951629817729225
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    References listed on IDEAS

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