Authoritarian Politics

The course provides an overview of authoritarian political systems. We begin by identifying the two key challenges facing authoritarian rulers--"managing contestation from within" (the threat of coups) and "contestation from below" (the threat of revolution). We then focus on institutions (elections, parliaments, and parties) and other strategies (repression, propaganda, and censorship) dictators can use to address these threats. Special attention is paid to working papers and recently published work to give students a sense of the state of the field. Working knowledge of game theory and statistics is helpful but not required.