Subnational Democracy in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes

25 Pages Posted: 31 Jul 2018

See all articles by Will Freeman

Will Freeman

Princeton University Department of Politics

Date Written: July 8, 2018

Abstract

It is well known that nationally democratic states sometimes harbor pockets of subnational authoritarianism. However, political scientists have yet to address whether and under what circumstances authoritarian states harbor democratic political subunits. In this paper, I put forward a novel concept to capture this phenomenon: subnational democracy. After reviewing existing scholarship on subnational regimes, I discuss the constitutive features of subnational democracy with reference to authoritarian Mexico and Serbia: two cases in which opposition subnational governments institutionalized core features of democracy on the local level. I then put forward a theory to explain the conditions under which subnational democracy is likely to emerge. Where opposition leaders coordinate subnational protests and international support to defend their local governments, the likelihood the national regime will resort to repression decreases and subnational democracy is more likely to emerge. Where opposition leaders fail to engineer one or both types of support, authoritarian national regimes display no such tolerance. I substantiate my theory with evidence from Mexico and Serbia, as well as several negative cases.

Keywords: Subnational, competitive authoritarianism, democracy, regimes, Mexico, Serbia, opposition

Suggested Citation

Freeman, Will, Subnational Democracy in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes (July 8, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3211414 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3211414

Will Freeman (Contact Author)

Princeton University Department of Politics ( email )

Princeton, NJ
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
193
Abstract Views
1,054
Rank
321,699
PlumX Metrics