Research framework and broader academic knowledge base
Serbia: documented application of the same framework
Why do governments create parallel services, overlap responsibilities, rotate personnel, and carry out purges?
Parallel services, overlapping competencies, frequent shifts and purges help the leader prevent any group from gathering enough people, forces and information to threaten him. If the two services do a similar job and monitor each other, the leader can compare their reports and more easily detect disloyalty.
Frequent rotations break personal ties among the personnel, while purges show everyone the price of suspicion or disobedience. But what increases the security of the leader often reduces the ability of the state: institutions hide information, shift blame, duplicate work and fear initiative. That is why such an organization is not an ordinary administrative mess. It should be seen whether changes in personnel and competencies are repeatedly used to weaken the independent centers of power and personal responsibility for personal responsibility.
Purgatory can serve to prevent a riot, a showdown within the government or a real fight against corruption. The intention cannot be concluded without information about the targets and the procedure.
Works supporting this answer, with their evidence type and an explanation of how they relate to the claim.
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Wintrobe, R. (1998), The Political Economy of Dictatorship, Cambridge University Press.
- Contribution to this answer
- Wintrobe shows that the leader constantly balances between rewards and fear and that he cannot fully know who is loyal to him. This creates an incentive to organize the security apparatus so as to reduce the risk of betrayal.
comparing several countries or cases
Greitens, S. C. (2016), Dictators and Their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence, Cambridge University Press.
- Contribution to this answer
- Greitens shows how dictators build secret police and security structures against two different threats a rebellion from below and a coup from within. The organization of the apparatus of force therefore often sacrifices part of the efficiency to make it politically safer for the leader.
data from a large number of countries
De Bruin, E. (2020), How to Prevent Coups d’État, Cornell University Press.
- Contribution to this answer
- De Bruin shows that creating parallel armed organizations can reduce the risk of a military coup because no force has a monopoly, but such a coup-proofing arrangement can have serious costs for coordination and military capability.
comparing several countries or cases
Quinlivan, J. T. (1999), „Coup-Proofing“, International Security 24(2): 131–165.
Quinlivan, J. T. (1999), "Coup-Proofing", International Security 24(2): 131–165.
- Contribution to this answer
- Quinlivan shows classic coup-proofing techniques: parallel forces, kinship and sectarian ties, privileges and careful monitoring of the military. The goal is not only the security of the state, but also to prevent the apparatus of force from endangering the ruler.
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Hassan, M., Mattingly, D. i Nugent, E. R. (2022), „Political Control“, Annual Review of Political Science 25: 155–174.
- Contribution to this answer
- Hassan shows how authoritarian leaders use personnel and organizational interventions to keep state institutions under political control. For parallel services there is a broader framework, but it helps to see the same logic of personnel security.
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