The Art of Coercion: Repressions and Repressiveness in Putin’s Russia

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-174
Author(s):  
Kirill Rogov
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Reverse Transition ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism ◽  
Electoral Regime ◽  
And Function

While repressions are seen to be a backbone of authoritarian rule, there is a lack of case studies of repressions and repressive policies in different kinds of authoritarian regimes and their interaction with other mechanisms of authoritarian sustainability. As Russia has demonstrated a transition from ‘soft’ electoral authoritarianism to its more ‘hard’ version during Putin’s third term in office, the role of repressions has increased. What are their scope and functions in Russia during this reverse transition? This article offers an analysis of the causes, types and mechanisms of repressions, and presents various ways of measuring their scale as well as the sources and means of their legitimation within the framework of an electoral regime. It shows that the regime prefers to demonstrate its high repressiveness—its willingness and propensity to repress—but in a limited number of cases; it also describes the role of repressive populism, namely presenting repressions as a necessary response to multiplying threats, as well as the scope and function of counter-elite repressions. The latter are seen as no less important than political repressions in the regime’s reverse transition, and as the main leverage of redistribution of power and institutional rearrangement in its course.

scholarly journals State-Building in Belarus: The Politics of Repression Under Lukashenko’s Rule

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aram Terzyan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
State Building ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Velvet Revolution ◽  
Diffusion Effects ◽  
Color Revolutions ◽  
Ruling Elites

This paper explores the politics of repression and coercion in Belarus, with a focus on the Belarusian authorities’ brutal responses to dissident activities. While repressions are seen to be a backbone of authoritarian rule, there is a lack of case studies of repressions and repressive policies in different kinds of authoritarian regimes and their interaction with other mechanisms of authoritarian sustainability. As Belarus has demonstrated, Lukashenko’s effort’s at perpetuating his power have prompted his regime into increasing the role of repressions. Coercion and repression have been critical to suppressing dissent and pluralism across the country. Essentially, successful, mass-based opposition to the ruling elites, that led to 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine and the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia served as examples to discontented elements in Belarus. Meanwhile, to shield itself from the diffusion effects of ‘color revolutions’, the Belarusian regime has tended to reinforce its repressive toolkit through suppressing the civil society, coercing the opposition, and preventing the latter from challenging Lukashenko’s rule. This study enquires into the anatomy of repressive governance in Europe’s “last dictatorship.”

scholarly journals Introduction: State capacity and elections in the study of authoritarian regimes

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurel Croissant ◽  
Olli Hellmann
Keyword(s):  
State Capacity ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Analytical Foundation ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism ◽  
The One ◽  
Regime Resilience ◽  
Key Terms

Studies of multiparty elections in authoritarian regimes have proliferated in recent years. Nevertheless, the available evidence remains inconclusive in terms of when, where, or why elections work to sustain or undermine authoritarian rule. The contributions to the special issue ‘State Capacity, Elections and the Resilience of Authoritarian Rule’ argue that analyzing the extent to which the effect of elections on authoritarian regime resilience is mediated through the factor of state capacity helps to solve this puzzle. This introduction lays out the analytical foundation for this discussion by reviewing key terms and concepts, and by highlighting possible theoretical connections between the state capacity literature on the one hand and the electoral authoritarianism literature on the other. Furthermore, it considers the contributions in this special issue, and points out areas of agreement and disagreement between the authors, while simultaneously placing the different arguments within the broader field of enquiry.

Political Opposition in Civil Society: An Analysis of the Interactions of Secular and Religious Associations in Algeria and Jordan

2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Cavatorta ◽  
Azzam Elananza
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Religious Associations

AbstractThe lack of effective political parties is one of the dominant characteristics of modern Arab polities. The role of opposition to the authoritarian regimes is therefore left to a number of civil society organizations. This study examines the interactions among such groups in the context of the traditional transition paradigm and it analyses specifically how religious and secular organizations operate and interact. The empirical evidence shows that such groups, far from attempting any serious coalition-building to make common demands for democracy on the regime, have a competitive relationship because of their ideological differences and conflicting policy preferences. This strengthens authoritarian rule even in the absence of popular legitimacy. The article focuses its attention on Algeria and Jordan.

Time and Regime Change

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Insufficient Attention ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Nondemocratic Regimes ◽  
Combining Information

This chapter summarizes conclusions about the timing of regime change and focuses on transitions from authoritarian rule. After discussing the ways in which legislatures and parties are thought to extend the life of nondemocratic regimes, it argues that scholars have paid insufficient attention to the specific role of legislatures in authoritarian regimes in historical context. Conceptualizing regimes by combining information on electoral practices and legislatures, it explores temporal aspects of regime change and demonstrates the staying power of legislative authoritarian regimes. Contributions include providing an overview of the ways in which scholars have described temporal processes involving regime change and expanding our knowledge of the complementarity of political institutions in autocracies.

scholarly journals Case Studies in Physical Therapy: Transitioning a "Hands-On" Approach into a Virtual Platform

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50
Author(s):  
Aideen Turner
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Physical Therapist ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Online Technologies ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Directional Preference ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Virtual Platform ◽  
And Function

Technology is expanding at an unprecedented rate. Because patients value the speed and convenience of the internet, there is an increasing demand for telemedicine.  Practitioners must therefore adapt their clinical skills to evolving online technologies. This paper presents a series of three case studies in which a physical therapist first assessed and treated musculoskeletal disorders via a live, secure video. The basis of the mechanical assessment was observation of movement rather than palpation. In each case, the virtual mechanical assessment identified a specific sub-classification with a directional preference.  All patients reported improvements in symptoms and function in less than four visits and all maintained a reduction in symptoms after three months. Given the “hands-off” role of the evaluator, this approach can become an effective tool in the evolving healthcare platform of telerehabilitation. 

scholarly journals Due Process and the Iraq Sanctions: A Response to Devika Hovell

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 13-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Gordon
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Due Process ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Cholera Epidemic ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
And Function

Devika Hovell raises deeply significant questions about the role of due process in the legitimacy of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Hovell gives us a fine-grained analysis of what exactly makes due process so compelling; in her approach, the reasons why it is compelling will vary in different contexts, depending upon the particular value and function it serves. In particular, she discusses three ways of articulating the values underlying due process, and the models of due process that would follow from each. She then discusses how her analysis would play out in two situations: The Council’s use of asset freezes, and the role of the UN in the cholera epidemic in Haiti. In her case studies, she looks at situations where due process has been insufficient, and discusses some of the UN’s attempts to remedy this, and the organizational difficulties in doing so.

scholarly journals Buildings, Faces, Songs of Alienation: How Interiority Transforms the Meaning Out There

Interiority ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Pieter Marthinus De Kock
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Interior Space ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
The Third ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
Spatial Quality ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Mind

This paper presents a theoretical framework that explores visual meaning in the design and use of interior space. It is comprised of three main parts. The first outlines the framework and draws on several key theories. The second introduces three very different constructs as case studies that in#uence (or are a product of) spatial quality, namely: buildings, faces, and songs of alienation. The third part is a discussion about how each of these three constructs are linked to each other as well as to the idea of interiority. While architectural forms are containers of meaning, the way in which interior space is curated is driven by deeper meaning–one that transcends form and function because people ultimately produce the meaning. And because each person is different, the conditions of interiority (in this case, the meaning that resides within each person) drives the meaning of external constructs that act as enclosures of meaning (buildings and their interiors). The findings are that the mind and body can be projected beyond the facade and into the spaces contained in the buildings we occupy. The role of technology is also important because changes in technology help mediate the process of linking the meaning inside with the meaning out there.

scholarly journals The European Court of Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Historical Abuse in Consolidated Democracies

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-704
Author(s):  
James Gallen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In recent years, both transitional justice and the role of the European Court of Human Rights in dealing with historical abuses have evolved. Transitional justice has begun to address widespread or systemic human rights abuses outside of the contexts of armed conflict and authoritarian regimes. In three key recent judgments, El-Masri v Macedonia, Janowiec v Russia and O’Keeffe v Ireland, the Court has clarified and expanded its approach to addressing historical human rights violations relevant to transitional justice in significant, if inconsistent, ways. To date, there is no exploration of the relationship between transitional justice, historical abuse outside the contexts of armed conflict or authoritarian rule and the European Convention of Human Rights. This article seeks to address that gap by considering the potential opportunities and obstacles for the use of the Convention to address historical abuse in consolidated democracies as a part of transitional justice.

All Power to the Party! The Sources of Ruling Party Strength in Authoritarian Regimes

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Qingjie Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
External Environment ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Party Building ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Party Strength ◽  
Ruling Party

Abstract The role of political parties in facilitating authoritarian rule has been the subject of extensive research, but parties vary widely in their institutional strength to perform regime-bolstering functions. This article synthesizes existing literature to develop a general theory that explains the sources of ruling party strength in autocracies. We argue that party strength stems from a strategic calculation by political actors who weigh the benefits of building a strong party against its costs. The relative benefits of strong parties depend on the stage of the authoritarian life cycle and factors specific to the strategic environment. The observable implications of the theory are tested using a dataset that includes all autocratic ruling parties that were in power between 1940 and 2015. Consistent with our argument, parties that originated from revolutions tend to be the strongest, whereas those created to support an incumbent dictator tend to be the weakest. A country's resource endowments and external environment also shape the dynamics for party building.

scholarly journals Anti-regime Uprisings and the Emergence of Electoral Authoritarianism

2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nam Kyu Kim
Keyword(s):  
Regime Change ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Survival Strategy ◽  
Democratic Regime ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism

This paper explores the role of threats from below in the emergence of electoral authoritarianism. Mass uprisings for democratic regime change undermine closed authoritarian regimes by making it difficult for autocrats to maintain their regimes through repression and co-optation. Anti-regime uprisings also promote the establishment of electoral authoritarianism by toppling the existing closed regime or by compelling autocrats to offer political reform as a survival strategy. Looking at closed authoritarian regimes from 1961 to 2006, my analysis reveals that anti-regime mass uprisings are significantly associated with transitions to electoral authoritarianism. I also find that nonviolent uprisings are more likely than violent uprisings to result in the establishment of electoral authoritarianism and that the effect of anti-regime uprisings on transitions to electoral authoritarianism is greater when a country is surrounded by more democracies or is ethnically or religiously homogeneous.

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