When Dictators Provide Public Goods: Multipartyism and State Capacity

• In Event: Autocracy and Elites

Abstract

This paper examines public goods provision in authoritarian regimes. I argue that the introduction of multiparty in authoritarian regimes with high state capacity increases public goods provision. However, when a regime has low state capacity, multipartyism is associated with targeted resource allocation. Empirical findings along with robustness tests from a panel of 95 authoritarian countries from 1970 to 2015 support this argument. This study has important implications for understating the role of state capacity and the dynamic between autocrats, elites, and the masses in electoral authoritarianism.

Author

• Da Sul Kim