Failed coups, political survival, and civil liberties restrictions in nondemocratic regimes

ÖZTIĞ L. İ., DONDURAN M.

SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, 2020 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası:
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/03623319.2020.1827686
  • Dergi Adı: SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, American History and Life, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, Historical Abstracts, PAIS International, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts, Violence & Abuse Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Nondemocratic regimes are built on coercive state mechanisms that are designed to suppress popular demands for democratization. Nevertheless, in practice, they display different patterns of civil liberties restrictions. This study makes a novel contribution to the literature on comparative authoritarianism and human rights by providing an account of the impact of failed coups on civil liberties restrictions in non-democratic regimes. We argue that failed coups lead to more than targeted repression of coup plotters and potential challengers. After facing coup attempts, nondemocratic leaders have stronger incentives to retain their power by averting not only future coups but also future revolts. As such, they restrict civil liberties in order to prevent the emergence and mobilization of dissent in society. Analyzing 70 nondemocratic regimes during the period of 1976-2016, we find that civil liberties restrictions are more likely to increase in the wake of failed coups.