摘要Magaloni (2006)

 What does current literature mention about the function of elections in autocracy? Magaloni (2006) concludes that:

1)      “autocratic elections are designed to establish a regularized method to share power among ruling party politicians.” 選舉作為一種常規化的方式與政治人物分享權力

2)      “elections are meant to disseminate public information about the regime’s strength that would serve to discourage potential divisions within the ruling party.” àgenerate a public image of invincibility. “This image would serve to discourage coordination among potential challengers-most fundamentally, those coming from within the party-and to diminish bandwagon effects in favor of the opposition parties among the mass public.”

3)      “provide information about the extent of the party’s mass support and its geographic distribution, and about supporters and opponents of the regime. Wintrobe (1998) proposes that dictators face a dilemma in that that they cannot ever truly know what the population thinks of them. If the dictator is loved, his power is more secure; if the dictator is despised by his people, he is more vulnerable to challenges from potential opponents.”

4)      “trap the opposition so that an autocratic regime invests in the existing autocratic institutions rather than challenging them by violent means.”

reference:

Magaloni, B. (2006). Voting for autocracy: Hegemonic party survival and its demise in Mexico (Vol. 296). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.