Opposition Strategies and Authoritarian Resilience in Comparative Perspective

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel explores dynamics of political contestation and entrenchment in autocracies. Drawing on empirical analyses of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the papers address important questions in the study of electoral and non-electoral strategies used by incumbent governments to hold power – and by opponents seeking to unseat them. Does election timing matter for regime durability? Under what circumstances do opponents unite to challenge incumbents collectively? When are defectors able to marshal potent electoral threats to ruling governments? How do autocrats deploy non-state actors to deflect criticism and burnish their public image? By answering these questions with diverse forms of evidence, this panel will illuminate new dimensions in the study of authoritarian politics. The panel resonates with the 2019 APSA panel theme, given that both authoritarian incumbents and their opposition often seek to claim the mantle as the true representative of “the people.”

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 44: Comparative Democratization

Individual Presentations

• Ruling Party Defectors and Opposition Success in Authoritarian Regimes - Sebastian Dettman, Singapore Management University

• Election Timing in Autocracy - Masaaki Higashijima, Tohoku University; Yuki Yanai, Kochi University of Technology

• Liberalize and Conquer: Explaining Opposition Strategies in Mexico (1988-2000) - Maryhen Jimenez Morales, University of Oxford

• Non-State Advocacy for Southeast Asia’s Autocratic States - Lee Morgenbesser, Griffith University

Chair

• Maryhen Jimenez Morales University of Oxford

Discussants

• Ellen M. Lust University of Gothenburg

• Alberto Simpser Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico