Part I. Introduction and Theory: 1. Introduction; 2. Explaining competitive authoritarian regime trajectories: international linkage and the organizational power of incumbents; Part II. High Linkage and Democratization: Eastern Europe and the Americas: 3. Linkage, leverage, and democratization in Eastern Europe; 4. Linkage, leverage, and democratization in Latin America and the Caribbean; Part III. The Dynamics of Competitive Authoritarianism in Low Linkage Regions: The Former Soviet Union, Africa, and Asia: 5. The evolution of post-Soviet competitive authoritarianism; 6. Africa: transitions without democratization; 7. Diverging outcomes in Asia; 8. Conclusion; Appendix. Measuring competitive authoritarianism and authoritarian stability.
This book explores the fate of competitive authoritarian regimes in the post-Cold War era.
Steven Levitsky is Professor of Government at Harvard University. His research interests include political parties, political regimes, and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America. Professor Levitsky is author of Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective (2003) and co-editor of Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness (2005) and Informal Institutions and Democracy: Lessons from Latin America (2006), and he is currently co-editing a volume on the rise of the Left in Latin America in the 2000s. He has published articles in the Annual Review of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, the Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Latin American Studies, Latin American Politics and Society, the Latin American Research Review, Party Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Studies in Comparative International Development, and World Politics. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Democracy. Lucan Way is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. His research interests include political regimes, fiscal and social reform, corruption, and post-communist politics. Professor Way is currently completing a book, Pluralism by Default: Sources of Political Competition in the Former Soviet Union, and has published articles in the Brown Journal of World Affairs, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Comparative Politics, East European Politics and Societies, the Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Politics and Society, Post-Soviet Affairs, Studies in Comparative and International Development, and World Politics, as well as several book chapters. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Democracy.
'This landmark contribution to the comparative study of political
regimes will be widely read and cited. In an epic act of
theoretical synthesis, Levitsky and Way weave careful empirical
research on three-dozen countries across five world regions into a
convincing account of patterns of regime change. In distinguishing
democratic transitions from a range of authoritarian outcomes, they
reach nuanced conclusions about the relative explanatory influence
of international factors (linkage and leverage) and domestic power
politics (rulers versus oppositions). Above all, they help us
understand how autocrats learn to live with elections. Strongly
recommended.' Michael Bratton, University Distinguished Professor
of Political Science and African Studies, Michigan State
University
'This is a brilliant and truly pathbreaking book that should be
closely studied by any serious student of democracy or comparative
politics. Its precise conceptualization, striking theory, rigorous
comparative methodology, and breathtaking range of case study
evidence distinguish it as the most important study of political
regimes and regime transitions in a generation.' Larry Diamond,
Stanford University
'Competitive Authoritarianism establishes Steven Levitsky and Lucan
Way as the Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan of their generation. In the
tradition of Linz and Stepan, Levitsky and Way offer an abundance
of theoretical and conceptual innovation as well as a trove of
empirical material drawn from broad swaths of the globe. The book
is as elegantly written as it is theoretically creative. It is
written by and for professional social scientists, yet
undergraduates and the attentive public will be able to digest the
book's central argument and findings with ease. This is what social
science should look like.' M. Steven Fish, University of
California, Berkeley
'This is the most anticipated book in comparative politics in more
than a decade. Written in a single authorial voice, Levitsky and
Way's arguments about the distinct trajectories of competitive
authoritarian regimes are theoretically grounded, conceptually
nuanced, geographically wide ranging, and empirically well
supported. I expect this book to have a major impact on the field
for many years to come.' Marc Morjé Howard, Georgetown
University
'Levitsky and Way's book makes two major contributions to research
on political regime change. First, by developing the notion of
competitive authoritarianism, it engages in a sustained effort to
provide a clear and theoretically fertile conception of a
particular subset of political regimes belonging to the vague class
of 'hybrid' regimes. Second, it offers the as yet most
sophisticated and subtle effort to interweave domestic and
international explanations of political regime change with
provocative implications for run-of-the-mill theories, whether
based on economic development, inequality, or institutions.'
Herbert Kitschelt, Duke University
'Regimes that blend meaningful elections and illicit incumbent
advantage are not merely resting points on the road to democracy;
Levitsky and Way guide us along the multiple paths these regimes
can take and provide powerful reasoning to explain why nations
follow these distinct paths. This deeply insightful analysis of an
important subset of post-Cold War regimes is conceptually
innovative and precise, empirically ambitious, and theoretical
agile, moving fluidly between international and domestic causes of
regime dynamics. Read it to understand the dynamics of contemporary
hybrid regimes; then read it again to appreciate its many lessons
for our general understanding of regime change.' David Waldner,
University of Virginia
'[Levitsky and Way] have made a rich contribution to [a] growing
body of literature. Among the many merits of their book is [their]
effort to bring greater clarity to the concept they investigate.'
Ergun Özbudun, Turkish Review
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