We provide a unified language for studying power sharing in authoritarian regimes. Power-
sharing deals entail not only sharing spoils between a ruler and challenger, but also …

The second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century have
witnessed an unprecedented expansion of one-party autocracies. One-party regimes have …

In recent decades, dictatorships based on mass repression have largely given way to a new
model based on the manipulation of information. Instead of terrorizing citizens into …

How do some dictatorships become institutionalized ruled-based systems, while others
remain heavily personalist? Once implemented, do executive constraints actually play an …

We develop an informational theory of autocracy. Dictators survive not by means of force or
ideology but because they convince the public—rightly or wrongly—that they are competent …

A growing body of research suggests that authoritarian regimes are responsive to societal
actors, but our understanding of the sources of authoritarian responsiveness remains limited …

What drives politics in dictatorships? Milan W. Svolik argues authoritarian regimes must
resolve two fundamental conflicts. Dictators face threats from the masses over which they …

Why do some dictatorships establish institutions that may constrain their leaders? We argue
that institutions promote the survival of dictatorships by facilitating authoritarian power …

When and why do people obey political authority when it runs against their own interests to
do so? This book is about the channels beyond direct repression through which China's …

The last decade has witnessed growing interest among political scientists and economists in
nondemocratic politics. This trend has been reflected in increasingly rigorous game …