Cases and Concepts in Comparative Politics (Third Edition) - Chapter 08: Nondemocratic Regimes

Authoritarianism

A political system in which a small group of individuals exercises power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public

Nondemocratic Regimes

A political regime that is controlled by a small group of individuals who exercise power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public

Totalitarianism

- A non-democratic regime that is highly centralized, possessing some form of strong ideology that seeks to transform and absorb fundamental aspects of the state, society, and the economy, using a wide array of institutions

- The main objective, unlike those of other non-democratic regimes, is to use power to transform the total institutional fabric of a country to meet an ideological goal

Resource Curse

Theory of development in which the existence of natural resources in a given state is a barrier to modernization and democracy

Populism

A political view that does not have a consistent ideological foundation, but that emphasizes hostility towards elites and established state and economic Institutions and favors greater power in the hands of the public

Corporatism

A method of co-optation whereby authoritarian systems create or sanction a limited number of organizations to represent the interests of the public and restrict those not set up or approved by the state

Clientelism

A process whereby the state co-ops members of the public by providing specific benefits or favors to a single person or a small group in return for public support

Rent Seeking

- Privileged economic benefits mediated by political power

- Ex. licenses, lucrative state contracts, or other preferences that benefit specific businesses and their owners in return for government support

Kleptocracy

"Rule by theft," where those in power seek only to drain the state of assets and resources

Patrimonialism

- Arrangement whereby a ruler depends on a coalition of supporters within the state who gained direct benefits in return for enforcing the rulers will

- Can be seen as a narrowed form of clientelism but the benefits are limited to a small group of regime supporters directly connected to the state itself

Bureaucratic Authoritarianism

- A form of authoritarian rule, common in Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s, in which military leaders and civilian technocrats presided over conservative anti-communist regimes

- The state bureaucracy and the military share a belief that a technocratic leadership, focused on rational, objective, and technical expertise, can solve the problems of the country unlike "emotional" or "irrational" ideology based party politics

Illiberal Regimes

Regimes where democratic institutions that rest on the rule of law are weakly institutionalized and poorly respected