Breaking Down the Residual Category: Policy Stability Among Dictatorships from a Veto Players Perspective

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that policies in dictatorships require the tacit support of two actors: the leader of the regime (an individual veto player) and the individuals the leader relies on for support (a collective veto player). I show that the collective veto player differs across personalist, military, and single party dictatorships in important ways. Due to such differences, it should be easiest to change policy in personalist regimes and most difficult in single party regimes. I test this statistically by comparing responses to exogenous economic shocks and fluctuations in inflation rates across dictatorships. I find substantial support for my argument.

Keywords: dictatorships, veto players, policy stability, authoritarian regimes, authoritarian institutions