Gandhi, Political Institutions under Dictatorship

Regimes of authoritarian stripes

def of a regime

same as Geddes

set of very basic formal and informal rules for choosing leaders and policies

A regime can therefore continue across multiple individual dictators as long as the same underlying group controls government under the same basic rules.

what are the three typologies of dictatorships

monarchs, military rulers, and civilian

dictatorship definition

a regime in which rulers acquire power by means other than competitive elections.

Monarchical dictatorship

• viewed as ruling families

• A ruler qualifies as a monarch when the ruler bears a royal title such as king or emir and belongs to a family that supplies predecessor or successor rulers. Monarchs rely heavily on family and kin networks to organize their rule

• monarchs rely on family and kin networks along with consultative councils

Saudi Arabia as a dynastic monarchy
King Fahd appointed his six full brothers to major government positions. Gandhi also describes succession becoming more embedded in family consultation. This shows that monarchs can give up some individual discretion to their relatives while strengthening the ruling family as a whole.

military dictatorship

A military dictatorship is not defined simply by the use of violence or by coming to power through a coup. Instead, the distinguishing feature is that the armed forces are the institution through which rulers govern. Gandhi classifies a ruler as military if the effective head was a member of the institutionalized military before taking power.

• contain key rivals from the armed forces within juntas (incorporates important military actors into government)

Argentina’s 1976 Processo
Before Argentina’s 1976 coup, the four military service branches established a detailed power-sharing agreement intended to prevent domination by the army. Legislation went through review within the different service branches before reaching the junta.

civilian dictator

A dictator who qualifies as neither a monarch nor a military ruler. Civilian dictators lack the monarch’s ready-made kinship organization and the military ruler’s armed-forces hierarchy. Because of this, regime parties can become particularly important organizations for governing and managing rivals. A regime party can provide an organization through which civilian dictators organize political supporters, manage elite rivals, penetrate society, and maintain control over the military.

create a smaller body within a regime party– a political bureau– to co-opt potential rivals

Soviet party control over the military
Gandhi describes a political hierarchy tied to the Communist Party that monitored the armed forces, indoctrinated military units, and reported political infractions. The example demonstrates how a civilian dictatorship can use party organization to control the people who possess coercive force

core argument

Dictators do not rule alone. They rely on an inner institution that helps organize the regime and manage the elite rivals capable of threatening them.

what is the inner sanctum of authoritarian regimes

how state leadership is organized and makes decisions

monarchs - consulting family network or council (family ties)

military - small committees, at most 10 members, to make decisions (juntas)

civilian - conscripted committee (political bureau)

legislatures

as a body with formal, but solely, legislative powers.

juntas are excluded because they combine executive and legislative authority, while consultative councils are excluded because they only advise the ruler.

Iran’s Guardian Council and elections
Gandhi notes that candidates for elected office in Iran are vetted by the Guardian Council and required to run as independents.

Why it matters: A dictatorship can permit elections and elected political institutions while still controlling important aspects of political competition.

political parties

Dictatorships can have no parties, one party, or multiple parties.