What drives politics in dictatorships? Milan W. Svolik argues authoritarian regimes must
resolve two fundamental conflicts. Dictators face threats from the masses over which they …

Spectacular economic growth in China suggests the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
has somehow gotten it right. A key hypothesis in both economics and political science is that …

After World War II a select number of countries outside Japan and the West--those that Alice
Amsden calls" the rest"--gained market share in modern industries and altered global …

Why do some dictatorships establish institutions that may constrain their leaders? We argue
that institutions promote the survival of dictatorships by facilitating authoritarian power …

Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists is a groundbreaking book that will radically change
our understanding of the capitalist system, particularly the role of financial markets. They are …

Legal Imperialism examines the important role of nineteenth-century Western extraterritorial
courts in non-Western states. These courts, created as a separate legal system for Western …

This paper develops a model to analyze economic performance under different political
regimes. An “oligarchic” society, where political power is in the hands of major producers …

Elections lie at the heart of democracy, and this book seeks to understand how the rules
governing those elections are chosen. Drawing on both broad comparisons and detailed …

In unequal societies, the rich may benefit from shaping economic institutions in their favor.
This paper analyzes the dynamics of institutional subversion by focusing on the public …

This article addresses a puzzle: dictatorships that practice torture are more likely to accede
to the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) than dictatorships that do not practice torture. I …