Targeted and Widespread Repression in Authoritarian Regimes
This chapter examines the nature of repression under authoritarian regimes. It first presents a typology of authoritarian repertoires of repression before turning to the authoritarian party systems in Egypt and Tunisia. The chapter then outlines the ruling parties in Tunisia and Egypt and what constituted the democratic opposition under the regimes of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak. The opposition categories are intended to demonstrate that both countries' opposition included parties representing a wide array of political platforms across the religious–secular axis. Finally, the chapter documents the different repertoires of repression used by each regime against its democratic opposition. The divergences have important implications for the categorization of Tunisia as a widespread repressive regime and of Egypt as a targeted repressive regime.