Core Theory: Non-Democratic Politics
This course examines the conduct of politics in non-democratic and autocratic settings, with an emphasis on understanding the internal logic, institutional design, and strategic behavior that characterize authoritarian rule. We explore how autocracies emerge, consolidate, and collapse, and investigate the variation across regime types—from closed dictatorships to competitive authoritarian systems. Key topics include elite coalitions, repression and co-optation strategies, institutional manipulation, and the effects of autocratic governance on outcomes such as development, inequality, and conflict. Readings will draw primarily from the quantitative literature in comparative politics, and students are expected to have a solid grounding in statistics and causal inference methods to engage with the empirical research.