Research framework and broader academic knowledge base
Serbia: documented application of the same framework
What does a ruling party do besides win elections?
The ruling party is much more than a voting machine. It transmits orders from the top to the local level, selects and supervises personnel, gathers information about the mood of citizens, distributes positions and resolves conflicts among people who support the government.
A party organization can show the leader who is loyal and who can move people, but also provide the system with rules that last longer than one man. That is why a strong party can have a double role: it keeps power from society, but sometimes limits the leader himself because its people have their own interests and ways to agree. It is necessary to distinguish an organized party with internal rules from a personal movement that depends almost exclusively on the popularity and decisions of one leader.
The fact that something is called a ‘party’ does not mean that it has its own rules and organization. It can only be an election machine of a leader.
Works supporting this answer, with their evidence type and an explanation of how they relate to the claim.
comparing several countries or cases
Brownlee, J. (2007), Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization, Cambridge University Press.
- Contribution to this answer
- Brownlee shows how a strong ruling party holds the elites together, resolves conflicts within the government and helps the regime survive political crises.
comparing several countries or cases
Magaloni, B. (2008), „Credible Power-Sharing and the Longevity of Authoritarian Rule“, Comparative Political Studies 41(4–5): 715–741.
- Contribution to this answer
- Magaloni shows how the dominant party enables a convincing distribution of future positions and benefits among the elites. Membership becomes a long-term agreement that ties political careers to the survival of the system.
comparing several countries or cases
Reuter, O. J. (2017), The Origins of Dominant Parties: Building Authoritarian Institutions in Post-Soviet Russia, Cambridge University Press.
- Contribution to this answer
- Reuter shows how dominant parties in autocracy are created to connect the leader with local and economic elites, organize their interests and reduce the problem of coordination within the regime.
Development and verification of measurement methods
Meng, A. (2021), „Ruling Parties in Authoritarian Regimes: Rethinking Institutional Strength“, British Journal of Political Science 51(2): 526–540.
- Contribution to this answer
- Meng distinguishes a really strong ruling party from an organization that exists only as long as the founder holds it together personally. The institutional strength of the party can be seen by whether it can survive and function outside a leader.
review more research
Geddes, B., Wright, J. i Frantz, E. (2018), How Dictatorships Work, Cambridge University Press.
- Contribution to this answer
- Geddes, Wright and Frantz show that the way the regime is organized including the role of the ruling party affects the distribution of power, personalization, duration and manner of the fall of the dictatorship.
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