Pluralism By Default: Weak Autocrats and the Rise of Competitive Politics
Friday, February 26th, 2016
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, February 26, 2016 | 3:00PM - 5:00PM | External Event, Room 3137, Political Science Department, Sidney Smith Hall (100 St. George Street) |
Description
Why do some countries that lack preconditions for democracy nevertheless see the rise of democratic political competition?
Pluralism by Default explores sources of political contestation in the former Soviet Union and beyond. Lucan Way proposes that pluralism in “new democracies” is often grounded less in democratic leadership or emerging civil society and more in the failure of authoritarianism. Dynamic competition frequently emerges because autocrats lack the state capacity or organization to steal elections, impose censorship, or repress opposition. In fact, the same institutional failures that facilitate political competition may also thwart the development of stable democracy.
Lucan Way is an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto and co-director of the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine at CERES. He is the coauthor of Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War.
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