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Electoral Responsiveness in Closed Autocracies: Evidence from Petitions in the former German Democratic Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2021

HANS LUEDERS Open the ORCID record for HANS LUEDERS [Opens in a new window]
HANS LUEDERS*
Affiliation:
Stanford University, United States
*
Hans Lueders, Postdoctoral Scholar, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University, United States, [email protected].
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Abstract

Contested elections are usually seen as precondition for constituent responsiveness. By contrast, I show that even uncontested elections can create incentives for autocratic regimes to address citizen demands. I propose that closed autocracies engage in cycles of responsiveness before uncontested elections to assure citizens of their competence and raise popular support. They do so to mitigate the short-term destabilizing effects of elections. Analyzing a unique dataset of petitions to the government of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), I calculate that response times to petitions were up to 31% shorter before the GDR’s uncontested elections. Moreover, I introduce the concept of “substantive responsiveness,” which focuses on the material consequences of responsiveness for petitioners, and show that petitions were 64% more likely to be successful. The paper advances our understanding of electoral mobilization in closed regimes and contributes to an emerging research agenda on responsiveness and accountability in autocracies.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 116 , Issue 3 , August 2022 , pp. 827 - 842
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

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