Concepts: Problem of authoritarian control, Problem of authoritarian power-sharing, Ruling-coalition spell, Military Involvement in politics, Restrictions on political parties, Legislative selection, Executive selection

RQ: What drives politics in dictatorships?

In The Politics of Authoritarian Rule, Milan W. Svolik seeks to uncover leaders’ path to dictatorship. Throughout the book, Svolik describes several concepts that help to explain the obstacles and also the strategies that dictators implement into their regime. Svolik lays out two different problems that dictators face throughout their tenure, which serves as a threat to their power. The main concepts that stood out in the book will be described below:
• Problem of authoritarian control—- Svolik mentions this first conflict as an issue dictators face from the people they govern. He mentions that “all dictators face threats from the masses, and is a political problem of balancing against the majority excluded from power.” (Svolik, 2012). The author uses the confrontation of Nicolae Ceausescu to emphasize the hardships that arise from mass uprisings and the mobilization of the people
• Problem of authoritarian power-sharing—– this is the second conflict Svolik describes. The author mentions that this problem “arises when a dictator counter challenges from those who they share power” (Svolik, 2012). This conflict is particularly problematic because the conflict develops internally and from the dictators most inner circle. While this inner circle is supposed to be the most trusted and hold just as much power to ensure the regime’s survival, they also have the opportunity to lead rebellions or stage coups for the dictators ousting
• Ruling-coalition spell— Svolik describes this concept as “an uninterrupted succession in the office of politically affiliated authoritarian leaders- typically from the same government, party, family, or military junta” (Svolik, 2012). This is an interesting concept because it is describing a continuous cycle of rulers who would essentially have the same influence over a state.
• Military involvement in politics—-one of the four dimensions of the political organization of dictatorship. This concept describes how military inclusion in politics influences the regime. The two forms of military involvement are described as corporate, which highlights the military within the government being institutionalized by decision making bodies. The other form is personal, which would be more at the micro-level.
• Restrictions on political parties—- this would entail “none, single, and multiple parties” detailing the limitations of the party.
• Legislative selection— This concept describes if a dictatorship has “no legislature, an unelected or appointed legislature, a legislature with one party or candidate per seat” (Svolik, 2012).
• Executive selection— this last of the four dimensions describes if a dictatorship has “an unelected executive, an executive that is elected but with only one party or candidate, an executive that is selected by a small, unelected body,” essentially describing the means leaders get into office and how their tenure is maintained (Svolik, 2012).
I believe the first two concepts are applicable to the RQ because it reveals that there is no true/one authority or actor that has the ability to solve the problems within a dictatorship. Whether the problems arise from mass uprisings or from the shared powers within a regime, it is challenging to politics because they are so many conflicting interests and actors involved with their own personal agendas aside from the regime.
Ruling Coalition spell links to the RQ because it is a term to describe the way in which succession within a family or political party is maintained. If this coalition is successful for many years, it helps to establish a regime. It could be a double-edged sword because the regime could either be extremely corrupt or the antithesis of that.
Military involvement is interesting because it also can be a double-edged sword in terms of the military working at the will of the dictator and taking commands, or the military being at the political helm of a regime or the military seemingly betraying the leader to overthrow him (which would describe the personal aspect of the authoritarianism).
Restrictions on political parties would describe the legislature dynamic. It entails its appointment, elections, how many candidates involved, and the percentage of seats the majority power has.
Legislative selection for example mentions “the largest party controls more than 75 percent of the seats…” essentially detailing which party has the majority or is the minority, thus dictating the amount of power a party holds the create institutions that will help establish formal procedures or rules for the state to follow.
With Executive selection, it is much like legislative selection in which it is rooted in a competitive nature where a candidate is elected to become a dictator. I think this one grants a dictator even more leverage and power to do whatever suits their interests because the dictator will feel more emboldened to act boldly because they were elected by the people.

Please feel free to add any more concepts that stood out to any of you from this book. I know there were plenty more.