My thesis student is starting her second semester, writing a thesis on why elections are so frequent in non-democratic, autocratic regimes.
While the following information may make her feel like her thesis has already been written, that’s never the case! And it’s helpful that such a large number of articles and commentaries have been come out on just this topic in the last few months.
- Perspectives on Politics (gated) has a number of articles on elections in autocracies, including:
- Levitsky and Way on how ruling parties use elections to channel internal party struggles and maintain their hold on power;
- Junisbal on contested elections, privatization, and post-soviet regimes
- Weyland on the post-Arab spring regimes
- A review essay by Mainwaring on elections in Chavez’s Venezuela
- Stoner on elections in Russia
- The Monkey Cage blog features a set of contributions from distinguished scholars on the role of elected legislatures in autocratic regimes.