CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 3,459Political Conflict and GovernancePolitical Theory and DemocracyPolitics and Society in Latin America

Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War

Levitsky, Steven, Way, Lucan A.·2010·Cambridge University Press eBooks
DOI 10.1017/cbo9780511781353
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Based on a detailed study of 35 cases in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and post-communist Eurasia, this book explores the fate of competitive authoritarian regimes between 1990 and 2008. It finds that where social, economic, and technocratic ties to the West were extensive, as in Eastern Europe and the Americas, the external cost of abuse led incumbents to cede power rather than crack down, which led to democratization. Where ties to the West were limited, external democratizing pressure was weaker and countries rarely democratized. In these cases, regime outcomes hinged on the character of state and ruling party organizations. Where incumbents possessed developed and cohesive coercive party structures, they could thwart opposition challenges, and competitive authoritarian regimes survived; where incumbents lacked such organizational tools, regimes were unstable but rarely democratized.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1017/cbo9780511781353

Cites

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In the data used, Slovakia does not experience a breakdown.

    “Levitsky and Way (2010, 91) go so far as to categorize the country as competitive authoritarian, though in the data we use, Slovakia does not experience a breakdown.”

    From Parties, Civil Society, and the Deterrence of Democratic Defection (2020) · cites this paper as Levitsky and Way 2010

  • Authoritarian regimes often manipulate legal structures to consolidate power while preserving a democratic façade.

    “Conversely, authoritarian regimes often manipulate legal structures to consolidate power while preserving a democratic façade, a phenomenon described by Levitsky and Way (2010) as 'competitive authoritarianism.'”

    From The Role of Law in Strengthening Democratic Governance (2025) · cites this paper as Levitsky and Way (2010)

  • When judicial independence is compromised, democracy deteriorates, and authoritarian rule expands.

    “These findings support the arguments of Levitsky and Way (2010), who contend that when judicial independence is compromised, democracy deteriorates, and authoritarian rule expands.”

    From The Role of Law in Strengthening Democratic Governance (2025) · cites this paper as Levitsky and Way (2010)

  • Competitive elections are necessary but not sufficient for democratic consolidation, and the conditions under which they are sufficient remain incompletely theorized.

    “The cumulative weight of this literature is that competitive elections are necessary but not sufficient for democratic consolidation, and that the conditions under which they are sufficient remain incompletely theorized.”

    From THE LIMITS OF ELECTORAL COMPETITION: HOW POLITICAL OPENINGS CAN FUEL PATRONAGE AND INSTABILITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA - A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SIERRA LEONE, GHANA, AND KENYA (2026) · cites this paper as Levitsky and Way (2010)

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
ORCID
Way, Lucan A.
Venue
Cambridge University Press eBooks
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Published
2010-08-16
DOI
10.1017/cbo9780511781353
OpenAlex
W4300022765
Cited by
3,459
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 444 · 2025: 375 · 2024: 177 · 2023: 183 · 2022: 220 · 2021: 263 · 2020: 305 · 2019: 343 · 2018: 276 · 2017: 187 · 2016: 192 · 2015: 148 · 2014: 135 · 2013: 102 · 2012: 68
FWCI
86.59
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 659 d)
Locations
Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Politics and Society in Latin America
Keywords
competitive authoritarianism, democratization, regime survival, state organization, incumbent firms, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review