 Jason
M. Brownlee, Low Tide after the Third Wave: Exploring Politics under
Authoritarianism As
the third wave of democratization recedes, many authoritarian regimes
persist. The stability of many authoritarian states raises important
questions. The four books under review use different approaches to analyze
the basic political struggles that occur within authoritarian states. The
studies edited by Chehabi and Linz examine fallen patrimonial states and
the difficulty of building democracy in their wake. Vandewalle, Herb, and
Wedeen analyze the less attended topic of authoritarian continuity and
stability through the resilience of dictatorships in the Middle East.
Together, these four books offer an encouraging turning point in
theorizing about contemporary authoritarianism, independent of democratic
transition. |