Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism

Dictatorships that arise from social revolutions are particularly resilient due to the intense counterrevolutionary conflict that arises, which fosters unity and state-building. This leads to the downfall of rival organizations and alternative centers of power, and helps to inoculate revolutionary regimes against elite defection, military coups, and mass protest.

Format: Hardback
Length: 656 pages
Publication date: 08 November 2022
Publisher: Princeton University Press

Revolution and Dictatorship delves into the intriguing question of why dictatorships originating from social revolutions, such as those in China, Cuba, Iran, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam, exhibit remarkable resilience, even in the face of economic crises, policy failures, widespread discontent, and intense external pressures. Few contemporary autocracies have managed to survive such formidable challenges. By employing comparative historical analysis, Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way argue that radical efforts to reshape the social and geopolitical landscape trigger intense counterrevolutionary conflicts, initially posing a threat to the survival of the regime. However, these conflicts ultimately foster the unity and state-building that sustains authoritarianism.

While most revolutionary governments start off weak, they confront powerful domestic and foreign actors, often leading to civil or external wars. These counterrevolutionary wars pose a significant danger to the stability of new regimes, as witnessed in the cases of Afghanistan and Cambodia. Nonetheless, among the regimes that manage to survive, prolonged conflicts give rise to a cohesive ruling elite and a robust and loyal coercive apparatus. This consolidation of power helps to undermine rival organizations and alternative centers of authority, such as armies, churches, monarchies, and landowners, thereby insulating revolutionary regimes from elite defection, military coups, and mass protests, which are the primary drivers of authoritarian breakdowns.

By examining a diverse array of revolutionary and nonrevolutionary regimes across the world, Revolution and Dictatorship sheds light on the enduring nature of governments that emerge from violent conflict.

Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691169521