Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 4 - The “Strongman” Electoral Authoritarian Appeal: A Comparative Analysis

  • Aleksandar Matovski, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
  • Book:
    Popular Dictatorships
    Published online:
    04 November 2021
    Print publication:
    25 November 2021, pp 133-166

  • Summary

    Chapter 4 challenges the prevailing view in the current literature that electoral authoritarian regimes rely on a hodgepodge of inconsistent legitimizing strategies, opportunistically drawn from various disparate platforms and ideologies. Using cross-national data from the Comparative Manifestos Project Dataset (Volkens et al. 2016), this chapter shows that the campaign strategies and rhetoric of electoral autocracies have instead followed a remarkably consistent pattern. Practically without exception, they have embraced the elected strongman appeal, which justifies their rule as a popularly mandated response to a national emergency.At the same time, electoral autocracies have emphasized their allegedly greater respect for democracy and the interests of the people, as compared to their opponents, in their campaigns. These seemingly contradictory appeals closely match their core legitimizing doctrine outlined in Chapter 2: that in times of crisis, the most democratic system is the one that represents the popular demand to restore stability by any means necessary.