Authoritarian Successor Parties and Democracy: Causes and Consequences

“Authoritarian Successor Parties and Democracy: Causes and Consequences” (research conference)

The conference and resulting edited volume have two objectives: advancing knowledge about authoritarian successor parties and their effects on democracy, and generating a book that will be useful to scholars, graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The conference papers and subsequent book will focus on two major questions: (1) What explains the success of parties with deep roots in former dictatorships—that is, “authoritarian successor parties”—in so many of the world’s democracies? (2) What are the effects of authoritarian successor parties on the functioning of democratic regimes? The topic of authoritarian successor parties is relevant for two major scholarly literatures: political parties and political regimes. This topic is also highly relevant to the Kellogg Institute’s research theme of democracy, given the nature of authoritarian successor parties and the often double-edged effects of such parties on democratic regimes. The conference will be held at Notre Dame in May 2015.