Authoritarian Party Systems: Party Politics in Autocratic Regimes, 1945–2019

After the gradual slowing down of the "third wave of  democratization," electoral authoritarianism is rapidly emerging as a  dominant form of contemporary autocracy. Political parties play a key  role within the political and institutional structures of electoral  autocracies. Pro-regime parties provide the dictatorial executive with  electoral and legislative tools of sustaining power. At the same time,  permitted opposition parties, while normally incapable of challenging  the regime, are important for regime sustainability because they perform  such vital functions as co-opting actual or potential opposition  groups, facilitating power-sharing, and mobilizing electoral  participation. The interactions among the dominant parties and the  permitted opposition parties, if displaying sustainable cross-temporal  patterns, constitute authoritarian party systems. Authoritarian Party  Systems provides a theoretical discussion of electoral authoritarianism  with special reference to authoritarian party systems; a methodological  overview of party system research with special reference to the problems  caused by the authoritarian nature of the observed party systems; a  comprehensive cross-regional and historical overview of authoritarian  party systems; a quantitative analysis of their structural  characteristics, including fragmentation, party system format,  volatility, and nationalization; and in-depth discussions of the  political regime determinants of authoritarian party systems and of the  interplay between party systems and other components of the  authoritarian institutional order. Quantitative analysis has been  performed on an original database comprising cases of party-structured  authoritarian regimes between 1945–2019. This content of the book is  illustrated by case studies drawn from across the spectrum of  contemporary authoritarian regimes.

Contents
Introduction
Defining Authoritarian Party Systems
The World of Authoritarian Party Systems
The Properties of Authoritarian Party Systems
Political Regimes and Authoritarian Party Systems
Authoritarian Party Systems, Executive-Legislative Relations, and Federalism
Authoritarian Party Systems and Electoral Systems
The Destinations of Authoritarian Party Systems
Conclusion

Readership
Academics,  researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students in the fields of  comparative politics, international relations, public  policy/administration, and specific area studies (African studies, Asian  studies, Latin American studies, Post-Soviet studies). Also maybe of  interest to policymakers or the general public with similar interests.