Constraining Dictatorship
From Personalized Rule to Institutionalized Regimes

Examining constitutional rules and power-sharing in Africa reveals how some dictatorships become institutionalized, rule-based systems.

Anne Meng (Author)

9781108834896, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 August 2020

264 pages, 32 b/w illus. 34 tables
23.5 x 16 x 3 cm, 0.7 kg

'Bravo! Meng offers a new theory of credible commitment under dictatorship that does not involve tired handtying or signaling arguments ...' Victor Menaldo, Comparative Politics

How do some dictatorships become institutionalized ruled-based systems, while others remain heavily personalist? Once implemented, do executive constraints actually play an effective role in promoting autocratic stability? To understand patterns of regime institutionalization, this book studies the emergence of constitutional term limits and succession procedures, as well as elite power-sharing within presidential cabinets. Anne Meng argues that institutions credibly constrain leaders only when they change the underlying distribution of power between leaders and elites by providing elites with access to the state. She also shows that initially weak leaders who institutionalize are less likely to face coup attempts and are able to remain in office for longer periods than weak leaders who do not. Drawing on an original time-series dataset of 46 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa from 1960 to 2010, formal theory, and case studies, this book ultimately illustrates how some dictatorships evolve from personalist strongman rule to institutionalized regimes.

1. Introduction
2. Why do leaders institutionalize?
3. Two illustrative cases
4. How should institutionalization be measured?
5. What are the causes of regime institutionalization?
6. What are the consequences of institutionalization on autocratic durability?
7. What are the consequences of institutionalization on leadership succession?
8. Conclusion
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], African history [HBJH]