(iPoster) The Geography of Control: Roadblocks in Electoral Authoritarian Regimes

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Legislative Studies & Authoritarian Demands, Compliance, and the Politics of Protest
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Authoritarian Demands, Compliance, and the Politics of Protest

Abstract

Authoritarian control is inherently spatial. Control varies geographically, reflecting how political competition varies across space. These patterns are reinforced, through the way regimes position and use administrative, coercive, and symbolic institutions of political control. In this paper, we offer a spatial analysis of political control in electoral autocracies, showing how regimes strategically deploy roadblocks to shape the political geography of ruling party power and authority. While roadblocks have been explored as a tactical tool common in political regimes, we emphasize roadblocks as an institution of political control that is routine, spatial, and publicly observable. Using constituency-level electoral results and spatial information on roadblock presence, we find that roadblocks are not randomly distributed; rather, they are concentrated in areas where state power is contested. By placing roadblocks in these spaces, regimes construct the illusion of an omnipresent state, extending citizens’ perceptions of state reach well beyond its actual administrative or coercive capacity. In doing so, this study highlights a neglected spatial mechanism of authoritarian control and expands our understanding of the local-level strategies employed by authoritarian regimes to reinforce narratives and govern political behavior surrounding ruling party power.

Authors

• Lindsay Favero, Michigan State University

• Sophie Sunderland, Michigan State University