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Autocracy by Democratic Rules: The Dynamics of Competitive Authoritarianism in the Post-Cold War Era Steven Levitsky Department of Government Harvard University Levitsky@cfia.harvard.edu Lucan A. Way Department of Political Science Temple University Lway@temple.edu March 25, 2003 Paper Prepared for the Conference, “Mapping the Great Zone: Clientelism and the Boundary between Democratic and Democratizing,” Columbia University, April 4-5, 2003. [This is a revised 1 version of a paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA, August 28-31, 2002.] 2 Notwithstanding the extensive literature on the spread of democratic regimes during the 1980s and 1990s, one aspect of the third wave of democratization has received less scholarly attention: the emergence and persistence of mixed or hybrid regimes. In much of Africa, post- communist Eurasia, Asia, and Latin America, political regimes combined meaningful democratic and authoritarian features during the 1990s. Though not a new phenomenon, hybrid regimes proliferated after the end of the Cold War. In 2002, they easily outnumbered democracies among developing countries (Diamond 2002: 30-31; Schedler 2002: 47). In light of this proliferation, scholars created a variety of new regime subtypes, including “hybrid regime” (Karl 1995), “semi- democracy” (Case 1996), “electoral democracy” (Diamond 1999), “illiberal democracy” (Zakaria 1997), “semi-authoritarianism,” (Olcott and Ottaway 1999), “semi-dictatorship” (Brooker 2000), “soft authoritarianism” (Means 1996), and “electoral authoritarianism” (Schedler 2002b). Nevertheless, the literature on these regimes remains underdeveloped. Two weaknesses are worth noting. First, scholars frequently place mixed cases in residual categories (such as “semi- democratic,” “semi-authoritarian,” or Freedom House’s “partly free”) that tell us little about the regimes other than what they are not, which tends to obscure important differences among mixed cases.1 Second, much of the literature on mixed regimes suffers from a democratizing bias.2 Mixed regimes are frequently treated as partial forms of democracy (Collier and Levitsky 1997), or as regimes that are “in transition” to democracy. Yet such characterizations may be misleading. Although some mixed regimes did in fact democratize during the post-Cold War period (Mexico, Serbia), others remained stable (Malaysia, Ukraine), moved in multiple directions (Albania, Zambia), or became increasingly authoritarian (Azerbaijan, Belarus). Various hybrid regimes have now remained in place for more than a decade, which is longer than the life span of many Latin American military regimes in the 1960s and 1970s. Rather than treating mixed regimes as partial or “transitional” democracies, then, it may be more useful to think about the specific types of regimes they actually are. This paper examines one type of hybrid regime, which we call competitive authoritarianism.3 Such regimes are authoritarian in that they do not meet standard procedural minimum criteria for democracy. Elections are often unfair and civil liberties are frequently violated. However, they are competitive in that democratic institutions are more than façades. Rather, they permit opposition groups to contest seriously for—and sometimes even win—power. The combination of autocratic rule and democratic rules creates an inherent source of tension. Consequently, competitive authoritarian regimes are characterized by periodic crises in which opposition challenges force incumbents to choose between cracking down and losing power. These 1For example, El Salvador, Latvia, and Ukraine each received a combined political and civil liberties score of six—or “Partly Free”—from Freedom House in 1992–93. Yet whereas Latvia denied full citizenship rights for people of Russian descent, El Salvador was characterized by widespread human rights violations and a lack of civilian control over the military. Ukraine possessed broad citizenship rights and civilian control over the military, but civil liberties were frequently violated and incumbents routinely manipulated democratic procedures. 2Similar critiques can be found in Herbst (2001), Carothers (2002), and the articles in the April 2002 issue of the Journal of Democracy. 3This concept is discussed in greater detail in Levitsky and Way (2002). 3 crises have resulted in a variety of outcomes, ranging from authoritarian entrenchment (Malaysia, Zimbabwe) to incumbent turnover without regime change (Ukraine, Zambia) to democratization (Peru, Serbia). We seek to explain these diverging regime trajectories. We focus on three variables. The first is incumbents’ organizational capacity to thwart opposition challenges, which we argue is enhanced by elite cohesion and strong coercive and electoral organizations. The second variable is the organizational capacity of the opposition. Well-organized and united opposition movements are more likely to topple autocratic incumbents than those that are poorly organized and/or divided. The third variable is countries’ linkage to, and dependence on, Western governments and institutions. Close ties to the West generally raised the costs of authoritarian entrenchment during the 1990s. Thus, incumbent survival is most likely in countries with a cohesive elite and strong states and governing parties, weak and divided oppositions, and weak ties to the West. Incumbent turnover is most likely in countries with weak states and governing parties, united opposition movements, and close ties to the West. We apply this framework to 12 cases of competitive authoritarianism, all of which faced some kind of regime crisis between 1990 and 2001. The cases are taken from five regions: Africa (Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe), Central Europe (Albania, Serbia), the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Russia, Ukraine), Latin America (Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru), and East Asia (Malaysia). We find that in cases of high Western linkage, such as countries in Central Europe and Latin America, even autocratic incumbents with substantial coercive capacity were likely to yield to, rather than repress, serious democratic challenges. In cases of low Western linkage, outcomes hinged on the organizational capacity of governments and their opponents. Where governments possessed substantial coercive capacity and strong ruling parties (Malaysia, Zimbabwe), or where they faced weak and deeply divided oppositions (Kenya, Russia), incumbents survived crises. Where elites were fragmented and ruling party and state organizations were weak, and/or where opposition movements were united, incumbents fell (Ukraine, Zambia). Yet where competition was primarily a product of incumbent weakness, the removal of autocratic incumbents often did not result in democratization, but rather in a new period of competitive authoritarian rule. These results have important implications for comparative research on regimes and regime change. First, they suggest that several factors that are said to contribute to democratic stability, such as elite cohesion, strong parties, and effective states, also contribute to the stability of authoritarian regimes. Elite fragmentation and state and party weakness limit incumbents’ capacity to build and maintain authoritarian rule, which may result in competitive politics and even incumbent turnover. Yet these factors are unlikely to contribute to stable democracy. In other words, the very conditions that enhance pluralism and competition in some authoritarian regimes may simultaneously inhibit democratization (Way 2002a, Way 2002b). These results caution against viewing competitive authoritarianism as a “halfway house” on the road to democracy. 4 Our findings alsorun counter to several contemporary approaches to regime change, particularly those that focus on elite attitudes and behavior and on institutional design.4 We find that leadership choices are often better explained by domestic and international constraints than by the presence or absence of democratic values,5 and that in the absence of other structural factors supporting pluralism, the long-term effects of democratic statecraft are often quite meager. We also find that because formal political institutions in many competitive authoritarian regimes are weak and easily manipulated by incumbents, institutional design is often better understood as endogenous to regime outcomes than as an independent cause of those outcomes. Our analysis of regime change is thus closer to approaches that emphasize structural factors such as the role of state power, the balance of social forces, and international constraints (Skocpol 1979; Rueschemeyer, Stephens, and Stephens 1992; Collier 1999). The Concept of Competitive Authoritarianism Competitive authoritarian regimes are regimes in which democratic institutions exist and are widely viewed as the primary means of gaining and maintaining power, but in which incumbents violate democratic rules to such a degree that the regime cannot be labeled a democracy. Examples include Croatia under Franco Tudjman, Haiti under Jean Bertrand Aristide, Malaysia under Mahathir Mohammad, Peru under Alberto Fujimori, Russia under Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, Serbia under Slobodan Milosevic, and Ukraine under Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma, as well as Albania, Armenia, Cameroon, Georgia, Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe during much of the 1990s.6 Competitive authoritarian regimes are non-democratic in that they do not meet standard “procedural minimum” definitions of democracy.7 Democratic regimes meet four minimum criteria: (1) executives and legislatures are chosen through elections that are open, free, and fair; (2) virtually all adults possess the right to vote; (3) civil and political liberties are broadly protected; and (4) elected authorities are not subject to the tutelary control of military or clerical leaders.8 Although democracies may at times violate these criteria, such violations are not sufficiently severe or systematic to impede challenges to incumbents. By contrast, competitive authoritarian regimes are 4For example, Robert Moser, summarizing a recent collection of essays on Russian politics, suggests that the problems of Russian democracy “arose primarily from poor elite decisions and institutional design” (Moser 2001: 10). On elite attitudes and decisions, see Di Palma (1990), Fis h (1998), and McFaul (2002). On institutional design, see Stepan and Skach (1993), Linz and Valenzuela (1994), Lijphart and Waisman (1996), and Fish (2001). 5Thus, in certain contexts autocratic leaders have behaved democratically (Nicaragua in 1990, Zambia in 1991, Mexico in 2000), whereas in other contexts seemingly “democratic” opposition leaders have behaved in a highly undemocratic manner (Berisha in Albania, Ter-Petrosian in Armenia, Chiluba in Zambia). 6Competitive authoritarianism does not encompass all hybrid regimes. Other regimes that mix authoritarian and democratic features include constitutional oligarchies (electoral regimes in which suffrage is denied to certain groups, as in Latvia during the 1990s), semi-competitive regimes (electoral regimes in which a major political force is barred from competition, as in Argentina between 1957 and 1966), and tutelary regimes (electoral regimes in which non-elected actors such as military or religious authorities wield substantial veto power, as in Guatemala in the 1980s and Iran in the late 1990s). 7On procedural minimum definitions, see O’Donnell and Schmitter (1986: 8) and Collier and Levitsky (1997). 8This definition is consistent with “mid-range” definitions of democracy. See Diamond (1999: 13-15). 5 characterized by frequent and often severe violations of democratic procedure, such that the playing field between government and opposition is markedly uneven.9 Incumbents routinely abuse state resources, restrict the media, and manipulate electoral results, and journalists and opposition politicians are frequently subject to surveillance, harassment, and, occasionally, arrest, exile, or violent repression. Yet competitive authoritarian regimes are not fully closed. In full-blown authoritarian regimes, formal democratic institutions such as elections, parliaments, and courts either do not exist or exist merely as façades or legitimating mechanisms. They do not yield meaningful contestation for power or generate uncertainty with regard to the allocation of political authority.10 In competitive authoritarian regimes, by contrast, the existence of meaningful democratic institutions creates arenas through which opposition groups may contest seriously for—and occasionally win--power. Elections are often bitterly fought contests. Although fraud, unequal media access, and harassment of the opposition stack the cards in favor of incumbents, elections often generate considerable uncertainty, and in some cases (Nicaragua in 1990, Zambia in 1991, Serbia in 2000), incumbents lose them. Similarly, although institutions such as the courts, legislatures, and the media are often weak and/or subordinated to the executive, opposition forces may, on occasion, use them to pose serious challenges to the government. Although incumbents may repress these challenges, direct assaults on democratic institutions tend to be costly in terms of both domestic and international legitimacy. Consequently, efforts to limit competition and suppress dissent often take more subtle forms, such as bribery, blackmail, and the manipulation of debts, tax authorities, compliant judiciaries, and other state agencies to “legally” harass or persecute opponents. Although competitive authoritarian regimes are not new,11 they became especially prevalent in the post-Cold War period. The Western liberal hegemony that emerged in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union undermined the legitimacy of alternative regime models, eliminated many alternative sources of financial and military support, and created strong incentives for peripheral states to adopt formal democratic institutions. As Andrew Janos (2000) has argued, liberal hegemony places a “web of constraints” on peripheral elites seeking to maintain good standing in the international community. In a non-hegemonic context, Western powers are also more likely to tolerate (and in many cases, support) authoritarian regimes that present themselves as buffers against Western rivals. This was clearly seen during the Cold War. The rise of the Soviet Union after World War II contributed to the emergence of both quasi-Leninist dictatorships and U.S.-backed anti-communist dictatorships in much of the Third World. 9Competitive authoritarianism must therefore be distinguished from unstable, ineffective, or otherwise flawed regimes that nevertheless meet the minimum criteria for democracy, such as what Guillermo O’Donnell (1994) has called delegative democracies. 10According to this definition, regimes in Egypt, Singapore, and the Central Asian republics were fully authoritarian during the 1990s. 11Historical examples include Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania in the 1920s, Argentina under the first Perón government (1946-55), Zambia in the 1960s, and the Dominican Republic in the 1970s. 6 The collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in a period of Western liberal hegemony of unprecedented scope. These changes increased the cost of building and sustaining authoritarian regimes in several ways. For one, the evaporation of alternative sources of military andeconomic support created an incentive for peripheral elites to remain on good terms with Western governments and institutions. Other forms of international influence included demonstration effects, direct state-to-state pressure (in the form of sanctions, behind the scenes diplomacy, and in some cases, military intervention), explicit conditionality (as in the case of European Union membership), and the activities of emerging transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The effects of international pressure vary considerably across states and regions. Many autocratic governments benefit from pockets of international permissiveness created by economic or security interests that trump democracy promotion on Western foreign policy agendas. Nevertheless, for most governments in lower and middle-income countries, the costs associated with the maintenance of full-scale authoritarian institutions—and the benefits associated with adopting democratic ones--rose considerably in the 1990s. As a result, even highly autocratic leaders were at times forced to tolerate the uncertainties created by meaningful democratic institutions. Crisis and Change in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes Competitive authoritarian regimes may be relatively enduring.12 As long as autocratic incumbents do not cancel or openly steal elections or commit egregious human rights violations, they may be able to hold onto power for many years. Using techniques such as bribery, co-optation, and various forms of “legal” persecution, governments may limit opposition challenges without provoking massive protest or international repudiation.13 Yet the coexistence of autocratic incumbents and democratic rules creates an inherent source of instability. The persistence of meaningful elections, formally empowered courts and legislatures, and an independent media provides mechanisms through which opposition forces may periodically challenge the government. Such challenges present autocratic incumbents with a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, overt repression—canceling elections, jailing opponents, ignoring Supreme Court rulings, or closing the legislature—is costly, because the challenges are formally legal and often enjoy broad domestic and international legitimacy. On the other hand, if opposition challenges are allowed to run their course, incumbents risk losing power.14 Such situations frequently result in an incumbent crisis in the government is forced to choose between egregiously violating democratic rules, at the cost of international isolation and domestic conflict, and allowing the challenge to proceed, at the cost of possible defeat. Such crises resulted in a variety of regime outcomes. In some cases (Kenya, Russia, Malaysia), incumbents weathered the storm. In other cases (Peru, Serbia), failed crackdown attempts eventually led to the removal of autocratic incumbents. In still other cases (Nicaragua, Zambia in 1991, Ukraine in 1994), incumbents lost elections and ceded power peacefully. Yet the 12Perhaps the clearest case of a stable competitive authoritarian regime is Malaysia. See Case (1996). 13For an insightful account of such strategies in Ukraine, see Darden (2001). 14These dilemmas are insightfully presented by Schedler (2002a). 7 removal of autocratic incumbents does not always lead to democracy. As Table 1 shows, only half of our cases of incumbent turnover (Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Serbia) resulted in democratization. In four cases (Albania, Armenia, Ukraine, Zambia), turnover was accompanied by the persistence of competitive authoritarian rule. Hence, although the removal of autocratic incumbents creates an opportunity for democratization, it should not be equated with democratization. --Table 1 about here— We seek to explain the variation in regime outcomes shown in Table 1. Why are some autocratic governments able to weather the storms created by episodes of democratic contestation, often by cracking down and further consolidating authoritarian rule, while others lose power, either because they fail to crack down or because they attempt to crack down but fail? More broadly, what explains why some competitive authoritarian regimes democratize in the face of crisis while others remain stable or experience authoritarian retrenchment? We begin with the assumption that incumbents in competitive authoritarian regimes seek to remain in office, and that extra-legal tactics (such as electoral fraud and various forms of repression) are among the options they consider as they pursue that goal. Given this assumption, three variables are of particular importance in explaining regime outcomes: (1) incumbent capacity; (2) opposition unity and strength; and (3) the international context. Incumbent Capacity In large part, the fate of competitive authoritarian regimes in crisis hinges on the capacity of incumbents to thwart opposition challenges. Maintaining an authoritarian regime requires substantial political, organizational, and financial resources. Governments that possess such resources are much more likely to survive opposition challenges than those that lack them. Three dimensions of incumbent capacity are particularly important to regime survival: (1) elite cohesion; (2) coercive capacity; and (3) electoral capacity. Elite Cohesion Elite cohesion refers to the degree of discipline and loyalty that executives can command from other regime elites, such as cabinet ministers, military leaders and other security officials, and parliamentary and party leaders. Just as elite cohesion is critical to democratic stability (Linz 1978; Higley and Gunther 1992), it is also critical to the survival of authoritarian regimes (Easter 1997; Roeder 2001). This is particularly true in periods of crisis, when incumbents must consider strategies—such as violent repression or electoral fraud—that can potentially bring high costs. Incumbents who cannot rely on key regime allies or subordinates during periods of crisis are less likely to risk such strategies, and if they adopt them, they are more likely to fail. Regimes vary considerably on the dimension of elite cohesion. In some cases, due to weak states, unstable political institutions, or deep ideological or ethnic divisions, incumbents repeatedly 8 confront insubordination from within the government or the security forces.15 In other cases, due to strong social or ideological ties or highly institutionalized parties or militaries, cases of defection or insubordination are rare. Coercive Capacity Incumbent survival also depends on the government’s capacity to repress or control opposition forces. Coercive capacity is important on at least two levels. On one level, an effective coercive apparatus may employ “low level” repression (surveillance, harassment, detention, and occasional beatings or killings) to intimidate citizens and discourage them from participating in opposition activities. On another level, an effective coercive apparatus must be able to reliably suppress (or pre-empt though massive shows of force) opposition protests. Where incumbents lack the capacity to crack down on such protests, they are more likely to fall. Coercive capacity requires both an infrastructure of repression and effective control over that infrastructure. In many regimes, this includes well-equipped and disciplined military and police forces and an internal security apparatus equipped with secret police and extensive surveillance operations (including the use of phone tapping, media monitoring, and informant networks). It may also include state-sponsored paramilitary organizations and party-affiliated informant and thug networks. Other state agencies, such as the tax administration, may also be used as mechanisms for intimidating and controlling the media,the private sector, and much of the opposition. For such an apparatus to be effective, of course, incumbents must fully control it. Where presidents cannot rely on military, secret service, or other agencies of coercion to follow their orders, incumbent capacity will be reduced. Electoral Capacity A third dimension of incumbent capacity is electoral organization. Unlike their counterparts in full-scale authoritarian regimes, incumbents in competitive authoritarian regimes must win elections. This must be done through a combination of voter mobilization and fraud, both of which require an organizational infrastructure, often in the form of a party. Electoral machines are particularly important when—as is often the case in competitive authoritarian regimes--incumbents lack widespread popular support. In such cases, unpopular incumbents must rely on local party structures, patronage networks, various government agencies, and—in post-Soviet countries— directors of enterprises to bring voters to the polls. Beyond winning votes, electoral machines are also critical for stealing votes. Marginal electoral manipulation or fraud—often on the scale of 5-10 percent of the vote—can be decisive for the fate of unpopular incumbents. Like get-out-the-vote efforts, activities such as stuffing or destroying ballot boxes, tampering with voter registration rolls, intimidating voters, or manipulating electoral results require the coordination and control of thousands of local officials and activists. Without a minimum of organization, such coordination is extremely difficult. 15Such was the case in many former Soviet republics, where the leading threats to incumbents have often come from former members of the government, particularly prime ministers. 9 In general, then, incumbent capacity is enhanced by strong states and governing parties. State strength—which entails both the domination of state officials over subordinates and the capacity of state agencies to successfully implement the objectives of state officials—tends to foster elite cohesion and enhance the coercive and electoral capacity of incumbents. In the absence of a minimum of state strength, governing elites tend to fragment, executives have a more difficult time utilizing state agencies and regional administrations to intimidate opponents or manipulate electoral process, and governments will be less able to rely on repression to put down social and political protest (Way 2002). Strong parties foster elite cohesion (through institutionalized patronage networks or shared ideology), facilitate electoral mobilization (and manipulation), and may carry out activities—such as surveillance and intimidation—that enhance incumbents’ coercive capacity. Revolutionary parties are often particularly effective in these areas. Revolutionary struggles tend to produce disciplined parties whose leaders and cadres exhibit high levels of ideological commitment and internal solidarity. Opposition Capacity A second variable that shapes the fate of incumbents in competitive authoritarian regimes is the strength of the political opposition. Strong opposition movements are more likely to defeat autocratic incumbents at the polls. They also raise the cost of repression, which increases the likelihood that incumbents will choose not to crack down. We measure opposition capacity along two dimensions: (1) cohesion; and (2) mobilizational capacity. Opposition Cohesion Opposition cohesion is often critical to the success of anti-authoritarian movements (Bratton and van de Walle 1997: 198-200; Corrales 2001). Divided oppositions may contribute to the survival of autocratic incumbents in at least two ways. First, in the electoral arena, opposition division often enables unpopular incumbents to win with a mere plurality of the vote. Although incumbents in competitive authoritarian regimes often lack majority support, their core support base, combined with incumbency advantages and vote rigging, usually helps to ensure at least 30-40 percent of the vote. If opposition parties fail to coalesce behind a single candidate, such pluralities may be sufficient to win.16 Polarized oppositions also enable autocratic incumbents to employ divide and rule strategies. In cases of severe internal division, one opposition party may work with the incumbent to prevent the victory of a rival party.17 We measure opposition cohesion in terms of three levels. In cases of high cohesion, virtually major opposition groups are organized into single party or coalition. In cases of medium cohesion, opposition parties are fragmented but are not deeply divided along ideological, ethnic or other lines. The absence of deep cleavages makes it more likely that they will be able to unite into broad anti-authoritarian coalitions during elections or moments of regime crisis. In cases of low 16A clear example is Kenya in 1992 and 1997. 17Such debilitating splits emerged within the Mexican opposition in 1988 and between communist and non- communist opposition parties in Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s. 10 cohesion, opposition parties are deeply divided along ideological, ethnic, or regional lines. In such cases, opposition parties often oppose each other as much, if not more, than they do the party in power, which seriously inhibits the formation of broad anti-authoritarian coalitions. Mobilizational Strength A second component of opposition capacity is the ability of opposition movements to mobilize citizens against the government. The capacity to mount large and sustained protest movements raises the cost of repression for incumbents. The repression of large demonstrations requires a more extensive use of force, which may bring severe costs in terms of both domestic and international legitimacy. Hence, the better organized and mobilized an opposition movement is, the more likely incumbents will be to cede power. In measuring mobilizational strength, we focus on (1) the strength of opposition party organizations; (2) the strength and independence of civil society, particularly labor, student, and human rights organizations; and (3) the degree to which civil society organizations are aligned with the political opposition. The International Dimension: The Role of Western Influence The third variable shaping the fate of competitive authoritarian regimes is the international environment. International influences are difficult to measure and compare. For one, they take a variety of forms. Although some of these forms are easily observable (military intervention, explicit conditionality), others (demonstration effects, the diffusion of ideas) have subtler effects that are difficult to measure. Moreover, the effects of the international environment vary across time, region, and individual states. Yet the effect of the international environment on regimes appears to be considerable.18 Our hypothesis is that in the post-Cold War period, ties to the West—particularly the United States and the European Union—raise the cost of authoritarian entrenchment and strengthen incentives for elites to play by democratic rules. We disaggregate Western influence into two dimensions: linkage and leverage. Linkage to the West Linkage to the West takes a variety of forms. These include geographic proximity, economic integration, military alliances, flows of international assistance, international media penetration, ties to international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other transnational networks, and networks of elites employed by multilateral institutions and/or educated in Western universities. During the post-Cold War period, these linkages raised the costs of authoritarian entrenchment in several ways. First, Western governmentswere more likely to promote or defend democracy in neighboring countries, particularly in Central Europe and Latin America.19 This was the case for several reasons, including cultural proximity, fear of large-scale immigration or regional conflict, and a greater penetration of Western media and international NGOs, which exposed authoritarian abuses and generated pressure for Western responses. Second, the possibility of entry into Western alliances and institutions (particularly the EU and NATO) created a strong incentive 18See Starr (1991); O’Loughlin et al (1998); Kopstein and Reilly (2000); and Brinks and Coppedge (2001). 19Thus, whereas Western governments were often inconsistent in their democracy promotion efforts in Africa and Asia during the 1990s, they intervened with greater force and consistency to block moves toward authoritarianism in Central Europe and Latin America. 11 for elites in neighboring countries to play by democratic rules (Gentleman and Zubek 1992; Kopstein and Reilly 2000: 25).20 Third, close proximity to the West increases the flow of information and ideas across borders, which may influence elite and mass expectations about what is (and is not) acceptable or possible. Where such information flows are high, it is often more difficult for leaders to achieve an elite or mass-level consensus around authoritarian measures. Finally, the presence within the government of Western-educated technocrats may provide an additional source of resistance to overtly authoritarian acts. This resistance may be a product of socialization into democratic norms, but it may also be strategic: many technocrats seek to pursue careers in Western and multilateral institutions and thus seek to avoid tarnishing their reputations among Western colleagues. Western Leverage Linkage is most influential when it is combined with economic and/or military dependence on the West. Several factors may reduce the leverage of Western states and institutions and therefore permit greater margin for authoritarian entrenchment. These include: (1) a strong economy with a large domestic market or a highly valued commodity such as oil; (2) military security or other issues (such as drugs or immigration) that trump democracy promotion as a foreign policy goal for Western states; and (3) the presence or absence of a regional hegemon that is able and willing to provide alternative sources of support. At times during the 1990s, China, Russia, and –to a lesser extent—Nigeria and South Africa provided critical resources to non-democratic regimes in smaller neighboring states, which helped to mitigate the impact of the Western influence.21 Applying the Framework This section applies the framework developed above to 12 cases of competitive authoritarianism: Albania, Armenia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua under the Sandinista government, Peru, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In all of these cases, competitive authoritarian regimes experienced at least one incumbent crisis between 1990 and 2002. We define an incumbent crisis as a period of opposition contestation that forces the government to choose between egregiously violating democratic rules and running a serious risk of losing power. The cases fall into three distinct outcomes: (1) incumbent survival and regime persistence (Kenya, Malaysia, Russia, Zimbabwe); (2) incumbent turnover without democratization (Albania, Armenia, Ukraine, Zambia); and incumbent turnover with democratization (Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Serbia). Incumbent Survival and Regime Stability In Kenya, Malaysia, Russia, and Zimbabwe, autocratic incumbents survived opposition challenges throughout the 1990-2002 period, and as a result, regimes either remained stable or underwent authoritarian entrenchment. All four cases were marked by relatively low Western 20This effect was clearest in the case of the EU, which has an explicit democracy clause, but initial talks toward a Free Trade Agreement for the Americas have also included discussion of a democracy clause. 21France occasionally played a similar role in francophone Africa. 12 influence and either (1) high incumbent capacity or (2) weak and/or divided oppositions. Table 2 summarizes the cases. In Malaysia, a strong state and governing party, together with low Western influence and a weak and divided opposition, enabled the Mahathir government to survive the challenge posed by Anwar Ibrahim and the Reformasi movement in 1998-99. In Zimbabwe, a powerful repressive apparatus, low Western influence, and the support of South Africa enabled the Mugabe government to suppress an electoral challenge mounted by a strong and united opposition. In Kenya, greater Western influence and only moderate incumbent capacity nearly resulted in the defeat of the Moi government, but a deeply divided opposition enabled Moi to survive two electoral challenges. Finally, in Russia, which was characterized by low incumbent capacity, low Western influence, and a weak and divided opposition, Boris Yeltsin managed to fend off a challenge by the Duma and win re-election in 1996. --Table 2 about here-- Kenya After a period of relatively mild one party rule under Jomo Kenyatta (1963-78), Kenya became increasingly authoritarian during the 1980s under President Daniel Arap Moi. Opposition parties were banned and civil liberties severely restricted (Kamua 1991; Throup and Hornsby 1998). In 1991, however, domestic and international pressure forced President Moi to restore multiparty competition, which transformed Kenya into a transformed into competitive authoritarian regime and created an immediate incumbent crisis. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: The Moi government possessed moderate incumbent capacity. Elite cohesion was moderate. Although Moi confronted substantial elite fragmentation— resulting in both cabinet instability and an attempted coup--during his initial years in office (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 31-33, 45), he consolidated control over the governing Kenya African National Union (KANU) during the 1980s. Nevertheless, Moi never achieved the elite cohesion of the Kenyatta period (Throup and Hornsby 1998). The government’s coercive capacity was relatively high. The Kenyan state has historically been one of the strongest in Africa (Jackman and Rosberg 1982: 9, 12; Widner 1992: 14). Central to this coercive capacity was the Provincial Administration established under colonial rule (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 10-11). During the 1980s, Moi doubled the size of army, expanded the police forces, and increased the state’s surveillance capacity (Widner 1992: 125, 144). Finally, the government’s electoral capacity was moderate. A predominantly patronage-based party, KANU had been very weak under Kenyatta (Widner 1992: 31-32, 39-40). During the 1980s, however, Moi infused it with state resources, revitalized local organizations, and created a youth wing and other ancillary organizations (Widner 1992; Throup and Hornsby 1998: 36-38, 354-355). As a result, party membership skyrocketed (Berg-Schlosser and Siegler 1990: 139), and KANU became an increasingly effective mechanism of control (Widner 1992). During the 1990s, KANU was “by far the largest party” in Kenya, and the only one with an “established presence in every part of the country” (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 339, 179). Opposition capacity was medium-low. On the one hand, Kenyan civil society, based on church organizations, lawyers’ groups, and the Kikuyu-dominated business community, had 13 developed a moderate mobilizational capacity by the 1990s (Widner 1992: 190, 202; Throup and Hornsby 1998: 302-303). On the other hand, the political opposition was deeply divided along ethnic lines, particularly between the Kikuyu and the Luo, which made theformation of a broad opposition front difficult (Oyugi 1997; Throup and Hornsby 1998: 141, 589-90). Western influence in Kenya--scored as medium--is relatively high by African standards (Berg Schlosser and Siegler 1990: 153) but lower than in Latin America and Central Europe. On dimensions such as geographic proximity, media and cultural penetration, and technocratic linkage, Kenya scores fairly low. However, Kenya maintained close ties to the West during the Cold War, and Great Britain retained “immense strategic interests” in the country through the 1990s.22 Moreover, because nearly a third of government expenditure was derived from foreign assistance during the 1990s, international donor countries enjoyed substantial leverage over the Moi government (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 74, 266-270). DEPENDENT VARIABLE: In the context of a prolonged economic downturn and increased civic protest, the Moi government confronted a deep political crisis in the early 1990s. In July 1991, opposition leaders, including Luo leader Oginga Odinga and Kikuyu leader Kenneth Matiba, created the multi-ethnic Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD). The government successfully repressed incipient pro-democracy protests (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 66), but this repression drew the ire of Western governments. In November 1991, the Paris Group of international donors suspended $350 million in aid and explicitly linking its restoration to political reform (Barkan 1993: 91; Barkan and Ng’ethe 1999: 185). This pressure was decisive: within two weeks, opposition parties were legalized, paving the way for multiparty elections in 1992 (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 87-88). The aid cutoff ushered in KANU’s “darkest hour” (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 105). With the government “reeling from the Western freeze on aid,” and with a united FORD presenting “a real threat” (Barken 1993: 92), KANU elites began to defect to the opposition (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 105, 93-96). However, two factors enabled Moi to survive the crisis. First, the security forces remained intact and under Moi’s control (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 105), which allowed the government to launch a “low-level campaign of violence against the opposition” (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 371), including attacks on the media, the burning of opposition headquarters, and state-sponsored “ethnic clashes” that left thousands dead (Barkan 1993: 93; Throup and Hornsby 1998: 380-81; Adar 2000: 116-120). Second, FORD divided along ethnic lines, with Luo elites creating Ford-Kenya and Kikuyu leaders joining FORD-asili (Oyugi 1997). Although the 1992 election was far from fair--KANU engaged in intimation and ballot stuffing in rural areas (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 289, 454-462)—it was the FORD split that “effectively ensured President Moi’s re-election” (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 118). Moi won just 36 percent of the vote, but with the opposition vote divided, KANU managed to retain the presidency and win a parliamentary majority. Western governments accepted the results and external assistance was 22Africa Today, June 2002, p. 13. 14 restored (Throup and Hornsby 1998: 520-523, 564). The opposition remained divided in the 1997 elections, which allowed Moi to win another re-election--this time with 40 percent of the vote. Although Moi held onto power through the end of the decade, civil society pushed the regime in an increasingly open direction. In 1997, a broad array of civic and political organizations created the National Convention Executive Council (NCEC), which launched a campaign for constitutional reform (Steeves 1999: 72; Adar 2000: 124). In mid-1997, large-scale civic protest and a new round of international pressure forced the government to make a series of concessions that “leveled the playing field somewhat” for that year’s election (Steeves 1999: 73-75; Barkan and Ng’ethe 1999). As it became clear that Moi would not seek re-election in 2002, KANU fragmented. With KANU divided, opposition forces gained influence in the parliament and transformed the body into a “real center of power.”23 Hence, a divided opposition enabled Moi to retain power through 2002, elite fragmentation and an increasingly robust civil society created the potential for incumbent turnover in the relatively near future. Malaysia Although Malaysia maintained an electoral regime since independence, politics was dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), its allies in the National Front (BN), and, beginning in the late 1980s, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. The government maintained substantial limits on civil liberties and exerted substantial control over the judiciary and most of the media (Crouch 1996: 77-77; Slater 2001). Hence, even though elections were “contested vigorously” and opposition parties often captured at least 40 percent of the vote, the electoral system was “heavily loaded in favor of the government” (Crouch 1996: 75). INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: The Mahathir government enjoyed substantial incumbent capacity. The governing elite “remained remarkably cohesive” for most of the post-independence period (Crouch 1996: 54). Although UMNO briefly divided in 1987, Mahathir subsequently purged and reconsolidated control over the party control (Milne and Mauzy 1999: 41-43; Slater 2001). Malaysia also scores high in terms of coercive capacity. It has a strong state apparatus with a powerful bureaucracy (Jesudason 1995) and a “highly effective and repressive police force” (Slater 2001: 14). With respect to electoral capacity, UMNO maintained a powerful party organization, with more than two million members, 16,500 local branches, and an extensive grassroots organization that enabled it to assign an activist to monitor every ten households (Case 2001: 52; Gomez 1995: 22-23). Financed by vast patronage resources, UNMO thus served as an “effective electoral machine that virtually guaranteed large majorities for the government” (Crouch 1996: 55). By contrast, opposition capacity in Malaysia was low. Due to ethnic division, a weak labor movement, and years of corporatist control over major social organizations, civil society was weak (Jesudeson 1995; Salleh 1999). Moreover, the leading opposition parties were divided along ethno-religious lines. Whereas the Democratic Action Party (DAP) was based among the Chinese 23Africa Today, February 2001, pp. 35-36. 15 and Indian minorities, the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) emphasized “Malay communal issues” and sought the creation of an Islamic state (Crouch 1996: 66-67). Finally, Malaysia is a case of low Western influence. Due to its relatively developed and diversified economy, Malaysia enjoyed substantial autonomy from Western governments and institutions. Malaysia’s major trading partners were Japan and Korea, not the U.S. or Europe, and it was able to turn to these countries (and increasingly, to China) as alternative sources of assistance (Felkner 2000: 55-59). Finally, relative to Latin America and Central Europe, the influence of the Western-based media, international NGOs, and Western-educated technocrats was low (Milne and Mauzy 1999: 146-47; Salleh 1999: 195). DEPENDENT VARIABLE: The Mahathir government confronted its “most severe test” in the wake of the country’s 1997 financial crisis (Funston 1999: 176). The challenge came from Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, a popular politician who many viewed as responsible for overcoming the 1997 crisis. When Anwar moved to challenge Mahathir politically, Mahathir sacked him, and when Anwar began to mobilize protests against the government in September 1998, he was arrested—and later convicted—on charges of sexual misconduct. Anwar’s detention sparked the emergence of the opposition Reformasimovement, which was backed by a range of parties and NGOs (Funston 1999: 173-76). Anwar’s wife, Wan Azizah, created the National Justice Party, which, together with the DAP and PAS, launched the broad-based Alternative Front to challenge UMNO in the 1999 elections. On the international front, U.S.-Malaysian relations reached an “all-time low” (Chin 1998: 189), and the IMF and U.S. government officials publicly backed the Reformasi movement (Funston 1999: 183; Singh 2000: 534). These developments left the government “as vulnerable as it had ever been” (Case 2001: 51). Mahathir survived the challenge. On the external front, Western institutions ultimately exerted little leverage over the Mahathir government. Malaysia spurned the IMF and, with financial assistance from Japan, its economy recovered in 1999 (Felkner 2000: 55, 57; Case 2001: 43). Domestically, Mahathir was able to “deploy an armada of packed regime institutions—the media, the police, the judiciary, and the national election commission—to prevent Anwar from challenging his leadership” (Slater 2001: 23). State security forces were “remarkably effective in suppressing the popular dissent that arose” after Anwar’s sacking (Slater 2001: 14, 24). At the same time, opposition forces remained weakly organized (Boo Teik 2000: 4; Slater 2001: 23). Consequently, although UMNO’s electoral performance in 1999 was its worst in 40 years, the governing BN retained more than three-quarters of the seats in parliament. The government cracked down on opposition groups after the election (Muzaffar 1999), and soon afterward, ideological conflict between the DAP and the PAS led to the break up of the opposition coalition. Hence, substantial incumbent capacity, together with a weak and divided opposition allowed the Mahathir government to survive the 1998-99 crisis with relative ease. Russia 16 Though more open than under Putin, Russia under Boris Yeltsin was nevertheless a competitive authoritarian regime. Elections were marred by at least some fraud (Sobyanin 1994; Mendelson 2001; Fish 2001b), and in 1993, Yeltsin used the military to shut down Parliament. In this context, Yeltsin successfully weathered two major threats to his tenure: the 1993 challenge by Parliament and the 1996 presidential election. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Under Yeltsin, incumbent capacity was quite low. For much of the 1990s, the Russian state was relatively weak. The central government faced numerous challenges from the country’s 89 regions (cf. Treisman 1999), and control over military was uncertain. The failure of the August 1991 attempted coup had been largely due to the army’s refusal to follow orders from Soviet leaders (Remington 1997: 74), and in the immediate post-Soviet period, government officials were unsure of their capacity to command military forces (Foye 1993a: 4, 6). Yeltson’s electoral capacity was also weak. Like many post-Soviet politicians, Yeltsin refused to invest political capital in building a pro-government party, but instead used divide and rule tactics to fend off opposition challenges. Several attempts at creating a ruling party—including “Democratic Russia” (1990), “Russia’s Choice” (1993), and “Our Home is Russia” (1995)—failed, in part due to Yeltsin’s unwillingness to support them (McFaul 1997: 16). As a result, Yeltsin was unable to build a stable majority in the legislature. Yet the opposition to Yeltsin was also extremely weak. For one, it was deeply divided. As in Ukraine, the best-organized opposition forces were extremist, particularly the unreformed Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). Viewed by many observers as the only functioning party in Russia in the 1990s (cf. Sakwa 1997), the CPRF attracted a much more stable and loyal support base than other parties (Colton 1999). Yet the communists’ radical message of re-nationalization and revival of the USSR and association with neo-Nazi groups meant that they had great difficulty attracting majority support, and other leading opposition parties, such as the liberal Iabloka, refused to cooperate with them. Finally, Western influence in Russia was comparatively low. Unlike Central Europeans, few Russians traveled to the West or enjoyed access to Western-based media and NGOs. The share of foreign direct investment in GDP hovered around 1 percent during the 1990s, and foreign aid as a share of gross national income never exceeded 1 percent (World Development Indicators). Finally, Russia’s nuclear and military capacities substantially reduced Western leverage. DEPENDENT VARIABLE: The most serious threat to Yeltsin’s power came in 1993 when he was challenged by the head of Parliament, Ruslan Khasbulatov, and Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi. In October of that year, Yeltsin attempted to dissolve the Supreme Soviet. However, Khasbulatov, and Rutskoi, backed by the Constitutional Court, refused to back down and, in alliance with Communist and nationalist forces, began mobilizing armed resistance against the president. Yeltsin survived the challenge because he managed—despite his precarious control over 17 coercive structures--to convince the military to take the legislature by force.24 He also benefited from the refusal of liberal opposition groups to back the Parliamentary rebellion. The 1996 presidential election presented Yeltsin with a second crisis. At the outset of the electoral campaign, Yeltsin’s public approval rating was in the single digits. Although the election was marked by at least some fraud, Yeltsin’s survival was largely a product of opposition polarization. Because the leading opposition candidate was Communist leader Gennadii Zyuganov, Yeltsin was able to play into fears of a Stalinist revival among liberals and other anti-communist critics. The unwillingness of opposition forces to unite behind Zyuganov allowed the unpopular incumbent to win re-election with 54 percent of the vote. Since taking office in 2000, Vladimir Putin has addressed many of the weaknesses in Yeltsin’s rule. He has weakened the “oligarchs” and regional elites, secured control over much of the media, and cracked down on various forms of dissent. He has also invested in a ruling party, Unit, which has been effective at subordinating the Duma to the president’s dictates. At the same time, a strengthening economy and increased energy production has further eroded Western influence. The combination of state strength, heightened international autonomy, and Putin’s party building efforts all suggest that Russia is unlikely to democratize in the near future. Zimbabwe Zimbabwe has been a competitive authoritarian regime since the end of white rule in 1980. Despite regular elections and a degree of judicial independence, post-1980 politics was dominated by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and President Robert Mugabe. The government strictly controlled the media and at times engaged in large-scale human violations.25 Although efforts to create a one-party state failed in 1990, violence and intimidation led opposition parties to boycott elections in 1995 and 1996.26 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Zimbabwe scores high on the dimension of incumbent capacity. Elite cohesion was moderate to high. Forged in the struggle against white rule, the new governing elite remained “fairly united and cohesive” during the 1980s, particularly after the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) was purged from the security forces (Darbon 1992: 2- 3; MacBruce 1992: 212-213). Although fissures emerged in the 1990s (Sithole 1999: 76-77), a series of purges allowed Mugabe to consolidate a “vise-like grip” on ZANU by the end of the decade (Rotberg 2002: 236). The Mugabe government’s coercive capacity was very high. Zimbabwe had one of the strongest states in Sub-Saharan Africa (Stoneman and Cliffe 1989: 40- 41; Herbst 1990), witha particularly effective coercive apparatus (Weitzer 1984a, 1984b). The Rhodesian government had created a “remarkably efficient and brutal state”--including a repressive 24According to Yeltsin’s own account, he had an extremely difficult time finding the forces willing to undertake this task: “the army, numbering two and a half million people, could not produce even a thousand soldiers, not even one regiment could be found to come to Moscow to defend the city” (Yeltsin 1996: 276). 25The most significant of these was the massive repression in Matabeland between 1982 and 1984, during which several thousand people were killed (Weitzer 1984a: 545; Cokorinos 1984: 50; Rotberg 2002: 228). 26 Hence, politics was marked by “elections without competition” throughout much of the 1990s (Quantin 1992: 25). 18 police force, an elaborate surveillance system run by the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), and an army capable of relocating 500,000 Africans into “protected villages”--as part of its counterinsurgency war in the 1960s and 1970s (Herbst 2000: 17; Weitzer 1984a, 1984b). Not only did this apparatus remain intact after 1980, but security spending increased dramatically and new repressive bodies, such as the notorious Fifth Brigade, were added (Weitzer 1984a: 534; MacBruce 1992: 214-215). ZANU also possessed relatively high electoral capacity. Due to the need to wage a protracted guerrilla war, ZANU developed a “stronger presence in the rural areas than most African parties had at independence” (Herbst 1990: 34). The party also sponsored a range of ancillary and paramilitary organizations--such as Women’s and Youth Leagues and the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association—that were used to both mobilize supporters and intimidate opposition activists (Cokorinos 1984: 52; Darbon 1992: 11; Sithole and Makumbe 1997). Opposition capacity was relatively high in the late 1990s. Although opposition parties and civil society had been weak during the 1980s (Stoneman and Cliffe 1989: 107-108; Sithole 1998: 28; Alexander 2000: 386),27 student, human rights, and church groups grew stronger and more independent during the 1990s (Sithole 1999: 82-83; Dorman 2002). In particular, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), whose membership soared to a reported 700,000 in 1998 (Alexander 2000: 386-89), “emerged as a force to be reckoned with” (Sithole 1999: 85). Together with the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, the ZCTU launched the broad-based National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) in 1998. The next year, NCA and ZCTU leaders founded the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which united the opposition into a single, well- organized party (Alexander 2000: 389-391). Western influence in Zimbabwe was relatively low. Because Rhodesia was largely cut off from the West after its 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence, it became relatively self- sufficient. Western media and NGO penetration are relatively low, as was the number of top ZANU and government officials who maintained close ties to Western institutions. Western influence was also limited by a regional hegemon: South Africa. South Africa was Zimbabwe’s leading trading partner, and Zimbabwe depended heavily on South Africa for fuel, electricity, and transport (Cokorinos 1984: 52; Hamill 2001: 12). DEPENDENT VARIABLE: After running virtually unopposed in the 1995 (parliamentary) and 1996 (presidential) elections, ZANU faced a severe electoral challenge beginning in the late 1990s. A major turning point came in February 2000, when a government-sponsored constitutional reform package was defeated in a referendum (Sithole 2001). This set the stage for parliamentary and presidential elections (in 2000 and 2002, respectively) in which ZANU would confront a unified opposition. 27The leading opposition party in the 1990 election, the Zimbabwe Unity Movement, had “no intelligible structures, no headquarters anywhere” (Sithole 1998: 117). 19 Mugabe survived these challenges through massive and sustained repression. The 2000 parliamentary election took place in an atmosphere of state-sponsored violence, in which journalists and MDC activists were repeatedly attacked and government-backed “war veterans” carried out campaigns of intimidation in rural areas (Rotberg 2000: 48; Sithole 2001: 166). Despite doctored voter rolls and some rigging (Compagnon 2000: 451; Rotberg 2000: 49), the MDC nearly won the election, capturing 57 of 120 seats. Although the MDC hoped to topple Mugabe via Serbia-style post-election protests, the government responded with a show of “brutal force” that was “unquestionably successful,” and further protests were cancelled.28 State-sponsored violence increased in the run-up to the March 2002 presidential election, which pitted Mugabe against popular MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangarai. In rural areas, government-backed war veterans invaded white-owned land and attacked MDC supporters.29 Although the Supreme Court ruled that the land invasions were unconstitutional, the government ignored these rulings, and in early 2001, Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay resigned violent threats (Meredith 2002: 205-6). In early 2002, parliament approved legislation that made it illegal for citizens to criticize the president or for journalists to operate without government accreditation, and the military command declared that it would not accept an MDC victory.30 Just weeks before the election, Tsvangirai was arrested on charges of plotting Mugabe’s assassination. On election day, a reduction in the number of voting booths in (MDC-dominated) Harare left 350,000 registered voters unable to cast ballots. These measures, combined with severe rural intimidation, paved the way for an easy Mugabe victory.31 Neither opposition protest nor external pressure succeeded in forcing Mugabe from power in the immediate aftermath of the election. The MDC organized mass protests, including a three-day general strike, but the protests again fizzled in the face of massive repression.32 Although the EU and U.S. imposed sanctions and Britain orchestrated Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Commonwealth, “it quickly became apparent that Britain...enjoyed little or no leverage over the Harare government” (Hamill 2001: 12). Mugabe benefited from the tacit support of the South African government, which lobbied against international sanctions, refused to use its control over Zimbabwe’s power and fuel supplies as leverage against Mugabe, and—in stark contrast to Western governments--accepted the 2002 election as “legitimate.”33 This support, together with the government’s coercive capacity, enabled Mugabe to survive the crisis. Turnover without Democratization In Albania (1997), Armenia (1996-1998), Ukraine (1994), and Zambia (1991), incumbent crises resulted in turnover but not full democratization. These outcomes were largely a product of low incumbent capacity (except in Armenia), combined with relatively low levels of Western 28Africa Report, December 2000, p. 22-24; February 2001, p. 29. 29Africa Today, October 2000, p. 13, June 2001, p. 26-27; September 2001, p. 20. 30Africa Today, February, 2002, p. 22-23. 31Africa Today April-May 2002, p. 24. 32The Economist, 23 March 2002; Africa Today, April-May 2002, p. 20. 33Africa Today April-May 2002, p. 20-22. 20 influence (except in Albania). The cases are summarized in Table 3. In Albania, a virtual state collapse encouraged the intervention of European powers, which oversaw an election that brought the opposition to power. In Ukraine in 1994, the government’s inability to control its own regional administrations contributed directly to the president’s electoral demise. In both Albania and Ukraine,uncertain control over the military limited the options of incumbents and essentially forced them to abide by democratic institutions. In Zambia, a bankrupt state and relatively weak, patronage-based party could not fend off a united and mobilized opposition. In Armenia, which possessed a relatively strong state, the government fell amidst severe elite fragmentation. In Armenia, Ukraine, and Zambia, incumbent turnover in a context of low Western influence led not to democratization but rather to a continuation of competitive authoritarian rule. In Albania, which experienced greater Western influence during the 1990s, incumbent turnover resulted in a marginally democratic regime that was contingent on sustained external intervention. --Table 3 about here-- Albania Following its defeat of the communist Albanian Party of Labor (APL) in 1992, the Democratic Party, led by Sali Berisha, governed Albania via a combination of authoritarian and democratic means.34 After a severe crisis and external intervention brought a change of government in 1997, Albania became more pluralistic but nevertheless remained on the borderline between competitive authoritarianism and democracy. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Incumbent capacity in Albania was very low in the 1990s, due, in large part, to state weakness. As a result of a lack of any foreign assistance during the last 13 years of the communist regime (Johnson 2001: 181), the army suffered from minimal training, shortages of food, fuel and ammunition, inoperable equipment, and an ineffective command system (Vickers and Pettifer 2000: 46, 211-12). Coercive organs were further undermined under Berisha, who slashed military spending, purged as much as two-thirds of the military officer corps, and dismissed 70 percent of the secret police (Biberaj 2000: 324, 152-3; Vickers and Pettifer 2000: 217). The government also lacked effective control over the military (Vickers and Pettifer 2000: 62; Biberaj 1998: 93). After Berisha appointed a loyalist with no military experience as defense minister in 1992, some senior officers openly refused to obey him. Opposition strength was moderate. Though lacking the mobilizational muscle of the Serbian opposition, the Socialist Party--which was built upon the bases of the old APL--possessed a national structure and attracted substantial support in rural areas. Moreover, the Socialists’ dominant position within the opposition meant that opposition forces were relatively unified (Biberaj 1998: 282). Finally, Albania was closely linked to, and highly dependent on, the West. At one 34Although a vibrant independent press developed under Berisha, the president prevented the emergence of independent television and radio and made frequent use of libel laws to silence criticism (Biberaj 2000: 161, 221). In 1993, Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano was arrested on embezzlement charges in what was viewed by international human rights organizations as a move to silence opposition (Amnesty International News Service 45/97). 21 level, Albania’s unique level of isolation from the world under Hoxha means that Albania lacks the web of contacts with Western countries found in other more open communist regimes in Central Europe. Nevertheless, the country’s proximity to Western Europe meant that Western governments quickly felt the impact of Albania’s political crises. Estimates suggest that roughly 600,000 legal and illegal migrants fled from Albania into surrounding countries between 1990 and 1999. DEPENDENT VARIABLE: Berisha’s fall from power in 1997 can be directly traced to the state’s failure to control social unrest, which triggered intervention by neighboring countries fearful of the effects of a sustained crisis. In 1996, the Democrats won parliamentary elections that were widely viewed as rigged (ODIHR Albania 1996). Both the OSCE and the United States government demanded that new elections be held in disputed areas. Although the government initially weathered the crisis, riots broke out in early 1997 after the failure of numerous pyramid schemes in which hundreds of thousands of Albanians had invested their savings. Uprisings broke out in the south and armed bandits began roaming the countryside robbing banks, destroying public buildings and looting arms depots that had been abandoned by security forces (Schmidt 1998; Biberaj 2000: 323). A state of emergency failed to quell the unrest, and in the ensuing disorder, Socialist leader Fatos Nano, who had been imprisoned since 1993, was able to walk out of prison. According to Johnson (2001: 179), weak military capacity was a major reason why the government subsequently rejected the use of force. International actors played a central role in resolving the crisis. In March 1997, the OSCE brokered a compromise that established a government of national reconciliation and new elections. After the EU and NATO declined to send troops, Italy received a UN mandate to send a Multinational Protection Force of 6,000 to Albania. The force oversaw elections two months later in which the Socialists won two-thirds of the parliamentary seats. Increased international engagement, particularly in the wake of the 1999 crisis is Kosovo,35 resulted in greater political freedom after 1997.36 However, the removal of Berisha did not lead to full-scale democratization. International human rights organizations continued to document substantial violations of civil liberties under the Socialists (Human Rights Watch 2001). Ukraine Ukraine remained competitive authoritarian throughout the 1990s. President Leonid Kravchuk repeatedly interfered with media coverage of the government during the early 1990s (Roeder 1994: 79) and attempted fraud during the 1994 presidential elections (Democratic Elections in Ukraine 1994). In 1994, Kravchuk lost to his former Prime Minister, Leonid Kuchma, who governed in an increasingly autocratic manner over the rest of the decade. 35Both the collapse of the pyramid schemes and the Kosovo crisis motivated increased European Union involvement in Albania through “aid provision and civil society programs aimed at re-establishing control over public utilities and policing” (Johnson 2001: 175). Foreign aid per capita increased from being the 29th highest in the world in 1994 ($52 per capita) to being the fourth highest in 1999 ($152). 36For example, the press has become increasingly free with the emergence of independent radio and television (U.S. Department of State 2000). 22 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Incumbent capacity was low in the early 1990s. The post- communist governing elite was highly fragmented. No ruling party emerged. Rather, the “party of power” functioned via loose and unstable coalitions (Kuzio 1997: 21-22; Wasylyk 1994). State capacity was initially undermined by a deep cleavage between the Ukrainian speaking western part of the country and the predominantly Russian speaking east. During Kravchuk’s presidency, the central government confronted secessionist demands and rebellions in several regions of the country. Kravchuk also faced problems creating a loyal national army. In the early 1990s, there was tremendous uncertainty concerning the loyalty of the armed forces and other security organs (Kuzio 2000: 182), particularly given that military officers were overwhelmingly Russian (Foye 1993b: 62, 63). Coup rumors abounded in 1993 (Kuzio 1993). Opposition forces were also weak during the 1990s. Civil society was weakly organized, and opposition parties were little more than loose collections of like-minded elites. Although key opposition forces (including the communists) united behind Kuchma in 1994, as the Communist Party grew in strength, the opposition divided between anti-communist nationalists supportingUkrainian independence and the communists, who sought closer ties to Russia. Western influence in Ukraine was relatively low. International media and NGO influence was low, and few elites were trained in the West. Ukraine’s dependence on the West was also low. Western aid represented a small share (about 1 percent) of gross national income and capital formation during the 1990s (World Development Indicators 2001). In addition, economic dependence on Russia,37 as well as close elite ties to Russia, meant that Russia served as an important alternative hegemon for Ukraine. DEPENDENT VARIABLE: State weakness and elite fragmentation contributed directly to Kravchuk’s removal in 1994. Kravchuk lost the 1994 presidential race in part because of his weak grip on his own administration in key locales in the east, where many state officials supported--and manipulated--the voting process in favor of Kuchma.38 Another important factor undermining Kravchuk’s ability to retain power was his weak influence with security forces. Almost certainly inspired by Yeltsin’s dissolution of the Russian legislature, Kravchuk contemplated disbanding parliament (FBIS-SOV 1 October 93: 25; Kravchuk 2002: 227) in 1993 in the midst of a deep conflict with parliament. According to his own account, however, Kravchuk was dissuaded from taking any action when the Ukrainian intelligence service rejected the idea (Kravchuk 2002: 228). Ukraine did not democratize after Kravchuk’s removal. Indeed, Kuchma’s ability to consolidate state control over the regions and the security forces, together with an effective system of internal surveillance and blackmail (Darden 2001), enhanced elite cohesion and allowed the president to govern in an increasingly authoritarian manner. In 1999, tight control over state agencies enabled Kuchma to manipulate elections through “widespread, systematic and 37In 1999, Russia accounted for 48 percent of Ukraine’s imports, most of which was natural gas and other energy resources (CIA fact-book). Ukraine’s energy debt to Russia is estimated to be between US$ 1.4 and 2 billion. 38See Kuzio (1996: 132-133); FBIS-SOV 3 August 1994: 38; and Democratic Elections in Ukraine (1994). 23 coordinated” action by “[s]tate officials and public institutions at various levels” (ODIHR 1999: 18; Darden 2001).39 Kuchma also benefited from a deeply divided opposition, as nationalist forces opted to back the government when the Communists emerged as the leading contender for the presidency in 1999. Finally, Kuchma benefited from the support of Russian president Putin, particularly in the wake of a 2000 scandal in which a leaked audiotape appeared to link the president to the murder of an independent journalist (Levitsky and Way 2001). Zambia Zambia experienced two incumbent turnovers between 1991 and 2001 but did not democratize. In 1991, after two decades of single party rule under the United National Independence Party (UNIP), longtime autocrat Kenneth Kaunda held multiparty elections and was defeated by union leader Frederick Chiluba. Yet the regime remained competitive authoritarian, as politics continued to be marked by fraud and regular abuses of civil liberties throughout the 1990s (Mphaisha 2000). INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Incumbent capacity under Kaunda was medium-low. The Zambian state is considered among the weakest in southern Africa (Lodge 1998: 25-26; Shafer 1994). Kaunda ruled largely through patronage and never developed the kind of repressive apparatus seen in neighboring Zimbabwe (Bratton 1994: 123; Baylies and Szeftel 1992: 88). The severe economic crisis of the late 1980s eroded the state’s capacity even further. Kaunda’s control over the security apparatuses also appears to have been relatively weak: the government suffered three coup attempts between 1980 and 1990. The government’s electoral capacity was moderate. Although UNIP possessed a national structure and maintained a large urban presence (Lodge 1998: 32), it was a loosely structured, patronage-based organization with a fairly weak presence in rural areas.40 Opposition strength was relatively high in the late 1980 and early 1990s. The labor movement, based largely in the copper sector, was particularly strong. The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which had 380,000 members in 1980 (Bratton 1994: 113-114), was one of the most potent labor organizations in the region. The church also emerged as an important civic actor (Bartlett 2000: 435-6). The opposition was further strengthened by its internal cohesion. In 1990, unions, students, and former government leaders founded the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, which, under the guidance of ZCTU leader Frederick Chiluba, emerged as a united opposition front. Finally, Zambia’s ties to the West were relatively weak. The country’s dependence on the West was quite high. In the mid-1980s, it was the most indebted country in the world relative to 39 Tax officers were used to blackmail local officials into getting out the vote (Darden 2001) and local and regional officials did everything from distributing campaign materials to threatening to cut off gas or electricity supplies if villagers did not support Kuchma (ODIHR Ukraine 1999: 16-17). 40 According to Kees van Donge, UNIP was a “maximum coalition” of regional and other groups whose interests often had to be satisfied at the cost of party strength (1995: 209, 196; also Baylies and Szeftel 1992: 78). 24 GDP and received more per capita external assistance than any other African state (van de Walle 1997: 29; Lodge 1998: 32). However, in terms of geographic proximity, elite linkages, and media and other influences, Zambia ranked low. The United States had “few identifiable interests” in Zambia, and Zambia “was low on the unusually crowded U.S. foreign policy agenda” the early 1990s (Carothers 1999: 69, 73). DEPENDENT VARIABLE: A combination of incumbent weakness and opposition capacity led to the collapse of one-party rule in 1991. During the second half of the 1980s, Zambia suffered a severe economic shock due to declining copper prices. Due to its heavy reliance on patronage, the crisis hit the government particularly hard (Bratton 1994: 124). Fiscal crisis and IMF-dictated food price increases led to riots in 1986 and 1990 (Lodge 1998: 32; Bratton 1992: 85-86). The 1990 riots were followed by a coup attempt and mass demonstrations throughout the country. In this context, Kaunda agreed hold multiparty elections (Bratton 1992, 1994). According to Bartlett, political liberalization “was the only alternative open for a regime that lacked the will for, or the means of, repression” (Bartlett 2000: 444). The MMD, which benefited from the organizational strength of the ZCTU and a wave of defections from UNIP (Baylies and Szeftel 1992: 81-83; Bratton 1994), overwhelmingly defeated UNIP in the 1991 election, and Kaunda peacefully handed the presidency over to Chiluba. Although the Zambian regime remained competitive after 1991, it did not democratize. The Chiluba government repeatedly violated civil and political liberties, assaulted the independent media, and maneuvered to bar both Kaunda and his running mate from participating in the 1996 presidential election (Bratton and Posner 1999; Mphaisha 2000). Chiluba was re-elected in 1996 in an election that was so riddled with abuse that UNIP opted to boycott it (Bratton and Posner 1999). Chiluba retained power largely because the opposition was weak and fragmented, which allowed the government to essentially “dominate by default”(Burnell 2001: 256-258). Yet the fragmentation of the MMD coalition prevented Chiluba from consolidating power. In 2001, Chiluba attempted to change the constitution in order to serve a third term.
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