Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-10T21:24:56.696Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Autocracies and the Control of Societal Organizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2019

Marie-Eve Reny
Marie-Eve Reny*
Affiliation:
Marie-Eve Reny, Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Authoritarian regimes seek to prevent formal and informal organizations in society from engaging in mobilized dissent. What strategies do they use to do so, and what explains their choices? I posit that state actors in autocracies use four mechanisms to control societal organizations: repression, coercion, cooptation and containment. How they control these organizations depends on whether they think they might undermine political stability. Two factors inform that assessment. First is whether state actors think societal organizations’ interests are reconcilable with regime resilience. Second is whether groups are in national or international networks that are either cohesive or incohesive. While the irreconcilability of interests influences state actors’ perceptions of groups as subversive, network cohesion shapes organizations’ capacity for large-scale mobilization.

Keywords

authoritarian regimessocietal organizationsChinaMiddle East
Type
Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 39 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © The Author 2019. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abu Rumman, M and Abu Hanieh, H (2009) The Jihadi Salafist Movement in Jordan after Zarqawi: Identity, Leadership Crisis, and Obscured Vision. Islamic Politics in Jordan, III. Amman: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D and Robinson, JA (2006) Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Alami, M (2014) The New Generation of Jordanian Jihadi Fighters. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 18 February, https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/54553.Google Scholar
Albrecht, H (2007) Authoritarian Opposition and the Politics of Challenge in Egypt. In Schlumberger, O (ed.), Debating Arab Authoritarianism: Dynamics and Durability in Nondemocratic Regimes. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 59–74.Google Scholar
Beaumont, P (2014) Abu Qatada Verdict Illustrates Jordan's Logic in Fight Against Islamic State. Guardian, 24 September.Google Scholar
Beinin, J (1989) Labor, Capital, and the State in Nasserist Egypt, 1952–1961. International Journal of Middle East Studies 21, 71–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beinin, J (1998) Workers on the Nile: Nationalism, Communism, Islam, and the Egyptian Working Class, 1882–1954. Cairo: American University in Cairo.Google Scholar
Beissinger, MR (2002) Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellin, E (2000) Contingent Democrats: Industrialists, Labor, and Democratization in Late-Developing Countries. World Politics 52(2), 175–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bianchi, R (1989) Unruly Corporatism: Associational Life in Twentieth-Century Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Black, I (2015) Jordan Releases Jihadi Cleric and Isis Critic After Group's Murder of Pilot. Guardian, 5 February.Google Scholar
Boix, C and Svolik, M (2013) The Foundations of Limited Authoritarian Government: Institutions, Commitment, and Power-Sharing in Dictatorship. Journal of Politics 75(2), 300–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boudreau, V (2004) Resisting Dictatorship in Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bovingdon, G (2010) The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Bratton, M and van de Walle, N (1997) Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, B, Smith, A, Siverson, RM and Morrow, JD (2003) The Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunce, VJ and Wolchik, SL (2011) Defeating Authoritarian Leaders in Postcommunist Countries. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, CS-C (2004) The Falun Gong in China: A Sociological Perspective. China Quarterly 179, 665–683.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Y, Lan, S and Liying, D (2014) Incarceration Time Increases for Three Members of Shouwang Church in China. Morning Star News, 7 May.Google Scholar
Chung, JH, Lai, H and Xia, M (2006) Mounting Challenges to Governance in China: Surveying Collective Protestors, Religious Sects and Criminal Organizations. China Journal 56, 1–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, RB and Collier, DB (1979) Inducements versus Constraints: Disaggregating ‘Corporatism’. American Political Science Review 73(4), 967–986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conrad, CR (2011) Constrained Concessions: Beneficient Dictatorial Responses to the Domestic Political Opposition. International Studies Quarterly 55, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowell, W (1999) Interview with Li Hongzhi. Time, 10 May.Google Scholar
Ehteshami, A, Hinnebusch, R, Huuhtanen, H, Raunio, P, Warnaar, M and Zintl, T (2013) Authoritarian Resilience and International Linkages in Iran and Syria. In Heydemann, S and Leenders, R (eds), Middle East Authoritarianisms: Governance, Contestation, and Regime Resilience in Syria and Iran. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 222–242.Google Scholar
Evans, P (1995) Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, JD (1995) Rationalist Explanations of War. International Organization 49, 379–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gandhi, J (2008) Political Institutions Under Dictatorship. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gandhi, J and Przeworski, A (2006) Cooperation, Cooptation and Rebellion under Dictatorship. Economics and Politics 18, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gandhi, J and Przeworski, A (2007) Authoritarian Institutions and the Survival of Autocrats. Comparative Political Studies 40(11), 1279–1301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geddes, B (1999) What Do We Know About Democratization After Twenty Years? Annual Review of Political Science 2, 115–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerges, F (2009) The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goossaert, V and Palmer, D (2011) The Religious Question in Modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hildebrandt, T (2013) Social Organizations and the Authoritarian State in China. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinnebusch, RA Jr (1985) Egyptian Politics under Sadat: The Post-Populist Development of an Authoritarian-Modernizing State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Howard, MM and Roessler, PG (2006) Liberalizing Electoral Outcomes in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes. American Journal of Political Science 50(2), 365–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Crisis Group (2005) Jordan's 9/11: Dealing with Jihadi Islamism. International Crisis Group Report 47, Middle East and North Africa. Amman/Brussels, 23 November.Google Scholar
Keith, RC and Lin, Z (2003) The ‘Falun Gong Problem’: Politics and the Struggle for the Rule of Law. China Quarterly 175, 623–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, W and Gandhi, J (2010) Coopting Workers under Dictatorship. Journal of Politics 72, 646–658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koesel, KJ (2014) Religion and Authoritarianism: Cooperation, Conflict, and the Consequences. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohli, A (1994) Where Do High Growth Political Economies Come From? The Japanese Lineage of Korea's ‘Developmental States’. World Development 22, 1269–1293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, S and Way, LA (2005) International Linkage and Democratization. Journal of Democracy 16(3), 20–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, S and Way, L (2010) Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, S and Way, L (2012) Beyond Patronage: Violent Struggle, Ruling Party Cohesion, and Authoritarian Durability. Perspectives on Politics 10, 869–889.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linz, JJ (2000) Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Lust-Okar, E (2005) Structuring Conflict in the Arab World: Incumbents, Opponents, and Institutions. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lust-Okar, E (2007) The Management of Opposition: Formal Structures of Contestation and Informal Political Manipulation in Egypt, Jordan, and Morrocco. In Schlumberger, O (ed.), Debating Arab Authoritarianism: Dynamics and Durability in Nondemocratic Regimes. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 39–58.Google Scholar
Magaloni, B and Kricheli, R (2010) Political Order and One-Party Rule. Annual Review of Political Science 13, 123–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, S and Pérez-Liñan, A (2013) Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ownby, D (2008) Falun Gong and the Future of China. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, EJ (2001) Challenging the Mandate of Heaven: Popular Protest in Modern China. Critical Asian Studies 33(2), 163–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posusney, MP (1997) Labor and the State in Egypt: Workers, Unions, and Economic Restructuring. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Qiao, N (2015) Church Members of Persecuted Beijing's Shouwang Church Administratively Detained. China Aid, 30 October 2015 (translated by C Song).Google Scholar
Reuters (2011) 17 Chinese Churches Petition Parliament for Religious Freedom, 12 May.Google Scholar
Robertson, G (2009) Managing Society: Protest, Civil Society, and Regime in Putin's Russia. Slavic Review 68(3), 528–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudbeck, J, Mukherjee, E and Nelson, K (2016) When Autocratic Regimes Are Cheap and Play Dirty: The Transaction Costs of Repression in South Africa, Kenya and Egypt. Comparative Politics 48(2), 1146–1166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schedler, A (2006) Electoral Authoritarianism: The Dynamics of Unfree Competition. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Schwedler, J (2006) Faith in Moderation: Islamist Parties in Jordan and Yemen. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwedler, J (2011) Can Islamists Become Moderates? Rethinking the Inclusion-Moderation Hypothesis. World Politics 63(2), 347–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slater, D (2009) Revolutions, Crackdowns, and Quiescence: Communal Elites and Democratic Mobilization in Southeast Asia. American Journal of Sociology 115, 203–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slater, D (2010) Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stacher, J (2012) Adaptable Autocrats: Regime Power in Egypt and Syria. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staniland, P (2012) States, Insurgents, and Wartime Political Orders. Perspectives on Politics 10, 243–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staniland, P (2015) Militias, Ideology, and the State. Journal of Conflict Resolution 59, 770–793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svolik, M (2012) The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomiche, FJ (1974) Syndicalisme et certains aspects du travail en République arabe unie (Egypte) 1900–1967. Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve et Larose.Google Scholar
Tong, J (2002) An Organizational Analysis of the Falun Gong: Structure, Communication, and Financing. China Quarterly 171, 636–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tong, J (2009) Revenge of the Forbidden City: The Suppression of the Falun Gong in China, 1999–2005. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vala, CT (2013) Sustaining Protestant Mobilization in Contemporary China. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Social Science History Association.Google Scholar
Wagemakers, J (2012) The Ideology and Influence of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Way, LA and Levitsky, S (2006) The Dynamics of Autocratic Coercion after the Cold War. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 39(3), 387–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wickham, CR (2013) The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Wiktorowicz, Q (2001) The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and State Power in Jordan. New York: State University of New York.Google Scholar
Wintrobe, R (1998) The Political Economy of Dictatorship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, EJ (2003) Civil Wars: What We Don't Know. Global Governance 9, 247–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, J-J (2013) Parochial Welfare Politics and the Small Welfare State in South Korea. Comparative Politics 45, 457–475.Google Scholar