When Do Dictators Go It Alone?: Personalization in Authoritarian Regimes

• In Event: Leaders, Elites, and Institutions

Brief Overview

Proposes a theory by which autocrats personalize power when predecessor elites fail to exercise oversight capacity. Tests the theory in four case studies (China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Vietnam) and an original dataset of 60 authoritarian transitions.

Authors

• Matthew John Reichert, Harvard University

• Andrew M Leber, Harvard University

• Christopher Carothers, Stanford University