Suchergebnisse

This introduction offers an overview of the key works in this edited volume on authoritarian regimes. This edited volume explains how authoritarian regimes were studied in the past and how this may contrast with how authoritarian regimes are studied today. This compilation also examines the newest trends in authoritarianism in the 21st century and showcases interesting works on elections, media pluralism and regime hybridity. The volume also highlights the challenges posed by authoritarian regimes to the international order and the growing influence of authoritarian regimes.

Scholars (see Levitsky and Way, 2005) have highlighted the importance of linkages and leverage in facilitating authoritarian breakdown. By linkages, we are referring to the ties that authoritarian regimes have to the United States, the European Union and other Western dominated international institutions and leverage refers to how vulnerable authoritarian regimes are to external pressure from these actors. But what previous scholars have failed to emphasize is that the type of authoritarian regime (i.e., personalist, military and single party) affects how much power international actors have in facilitating the ousting of an autocrat. With the recent events of the Arab Spring, applying linkages and leverage in combination with Barbara Geddes' typology of authoritarian regimes can help improve our understanding of the role that the international community can play in these events. We differentiate between the various types of authoritarian regimes in Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Libya, and apply the concepts of linkages and leverage in order to explain the events of the Arab Spring. By combining linkage, leverage, and regime type, this paper highlights the circumstances under which some policy tools will be effective in inducing authoritarian breakdown. The paper emphasizes that removing autocrats will be most difficult in military regimes that have few linkages or incentives to step down.

With inclusion of theories and causal factors for context, plenty of case studies for real-world application, and pedagogical features to encourage engagement, this book's coverage also goes far beyond the traditional focus on terrorist groups to provide readers with a stimulating and wide-ranging introduction to the subject.

Cover -- Contents -- List of Boxes and Tables -- Acknowledgements -- PART I UNDERSTANDING DEVELOPMENT -- 1 Setting the Stage: What Is Development? -- What is the developing world? -- What is development? -- How is development measured? -- What is the role of the global forces? -- Bringing in the state -- A roadmap -- 2 Theories of Development: Why Are Some Countries Underdeveloped? -- Modernization theory -- Structuralism and the Dependency School -- Theories of growth in practice -- Conclusion: where we stand today -- 3 Debates on the State and Development -- Government intervention in the economy -- Neo-liberal economic philosophy: early influences -- The rise of neo-liberalism in the 20th century -- Neo-liberalism in economic policy -- Neo-liberalism in practice -- State-led growth in practice -- Conclusion -- 4 Institutions and Development -- Institutions in theory -- Administrative institutions -- Judicial institutions -- Political institutions -- Security institutions -- Conclusion -- PART II D EVELOPMENT TRAPS AND HURDLES -- 5 Poverty Traps -- Poverty -- Poverty and development: poverty traps -- Poverty and the state -- Dealing with poverty: a focus on agriculture -- Conclusion -- 6 Intractable Instability -- Instability -- Instability and development -- Dealing with instability -- Conclusion -- 7 Corruption -- Corruption -- Corruption and development -- Corruption and the state -- Dealing with corruption -- Conclusion -- 8 Colonialism and Geography -- Colonialism -- Colonialism and development -- Geography -- Geography and development -- Colonialism, geography and the state -- Dealing with a colonial heritage -- Conclusion -- 9 Debt and Financial Crises -- Debt -- Debt and development -- Debt and the state -- Dealing with debt -- Conclusion -- 10 Natural Disasters and Natural Resources -- Natural disasters.