Patrick Köllner

Comparing autocracies: theoretical issues and empirical analyses

A quarter of the worlds nation states and territories are ruled by dictators. Moreover, there are many regimes in which democratic and autocratic elements of rule are mixed in various ways. It thus behoves political scientists to study the trajectories, manifestations and perspectives of non-democratic rule in general and autocratic rule in particular. After a period of stagnation, research on autocracies has in recent years become revitalized. Much of this research has a comparative orientation and a range of global datasets that have become available, which enable the systematic testing of hypotheses. Yet, current research on autocracies goes beyond large-N studies. It is a pluralistic enterprise, characterized by the use of a multitude of theoretical, analytical and methodological approaches, lenses and tools. This special issue attempts to fill some gaps in the newer literature by addressing questions of legitimation and repression (as well as co-optation) in autocracies, by probing into the origins of a number of competitive authoritarian regimes and into pre-electoral dynamics in non-democracies, and by finally asking what happens to dictators once autocratic regimes fall.

Autokratien im Vergleich

After the Orange Revolution, political analysts linked the stagnation of democratisation processes in many parts of the world to nondemocratic regional powers, fi rst among them Russia and China. But so far no attempt has been made either to theorise the causal mechanisms gearing such nondemocratic exogenous regime infl uences, or to compare Russian and Chinese policies. We develop the concept of autocracy promotion in which we distinguish external policies that directly aim to restrict democratic rights in another country from policies that indirectly support authoritarian stability by enhancing the socioeconomic performance of a nondemocratic leadership. Based on this distinction, we conduct an empirical review of the respective Russian and Chinese policies. We find that Russian policymakers tend more towards a direct approach to autocracy promotion, while the Chinese approach is more indirect.

The LDP at 50: The Rise, Power Resources, and Perspectives of Japan's Dominant Party

Japans ruling party is a prime example of a dominant party. While dominant parties in other democracies around the world have lost their grip on power or have even disappeared altogether, the LDP is still going strong. What explains the success of the party? How did the LDP acquire its dominant position and how did it manage to cling to it? In an attempt to answer these questions, this paper discusses the rise, the power (re-)sources and the perspectives of Japans dominant party.