

Revolution and Dictatorship
The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism
Author: Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way
Narrator: Joe Barrett
Unabridged: 17 hr 16 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 12/13/2022
Categories: Nonfiction, Political Science, Political Ideologies, History, World History
Synopsis
Although most revolutionary governments begin weak, they challenge powerful domestic and foreign actors, often bringing about civil or external wars. These counterrevolutionary wars pose a threat that can destroy new regimes, as in the cases of Afghanistan and Cambodia. Among regimes that survive, however, prolonged conflicts give rise to a cohesive ruling elite and a powerful and loyal coercive apparatus. This leads to the downfall of rival organizations and alternative centers of power, such as armies, churches, and landowners, and helps to inoculate revolutionary regimes against elite defection, military coups, and mass protest—principal sources of authoritarian breakdown.