Workshop theme

A third of all countries are currently subjected to autocratic rule – and this is even the lowest share in world history. Hence, studying the trajectories, manifestations, and perspectives of autocratic rule has enduring relevance. After a period of stagnation, research on autocracies has in recent years become revitalized. Much of this research has a comparative orientation, and a range of global datasets that have become available and new ones are in the making, which enable the systematic assessment of theoretical expectations. Within this expanding literature, the variation and clustering of institutional characteristics of the regime and the state and their consequences for stability, peace, and development are some of the main themes in the debate. Against this backdrop, the workshop brings together young scholars investigating how we can better understand the diversity among autocratic political regimes and its consequences for various important outcomes, such as regime stability, violent conflict, and redistribution. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for the participants to share their thoughts on these issues and to receive detailed comments from peers on work in progress.

Format

Very short presentations (5 minutes, no slides, just a few words about the background), discussant (7-10 minutes), plenum (30-33 minutes).

Programme

Thursday, September 28 (Conference Room)  

8:50-9:00: Welcome

9:00-10:00: Suthan (Aarhus University) & Lasse Lykke Rørbæk (Aarhus University): Elections, Coups Attempts, and the Moderating Effects of the National Economy
Discussant: Tore Wig

10:00-10:45: Sebastian Ziaja (University of Heidelberg): An Empirical Typology of Political Regimes
Discussant: Andrej Kokkonen

10:45-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-11:45 Dag Tanneberg (University of Potsdam) How Political Repression Discourages Coups
Discussant: Suthan Krishnarajan

11:45-12:30 Matilde Thorsen (Aarhus University) Policymaking in Autocracies: When Dictators Are Ideologically Motivated
Discussant: Anna Lührmann

12:30-13:15 Lunch

13:15-14:00 Tore Wig (University of Oslo) Chaos on Campus: Universities and Mass Uprisings Discussant: Alexander Grundholm (AU)

14:00-14:45 Anna Lührmann (University of Gothenburg/V-Dem Institute) Varieties of Autocracy (V-Aut)
Discussants: Vilde Djuve & Matilde Thorsen

14:45-15:00 Coffee break

15:00-15:45 Alexander Schmotz (WZB) Elections vs Constitutionalism: Institutional Tension and Hybrid Regime Survival
Discussant: Svend-Erik Skaaning

15:45-16:30 Bertel Teilfeldt Hansen (University of Copenhagen) Arms Trade, International Alignments, and International Conflict
Discussant: Jørgen Møller (AU)

18:30 Workshop dinner (Restaurant Olive, Kaløgade 1)

Friday, September 29 (Conference Room)

9:30-10:15 Fenja Søndergaard Møller (Aarhus University) Freedom of Discussion and Civil War
Discussant: Sebastian Ziaja

10:15-11:00 Saara Inkinen (Humboldt University/WZB) One for Me, One for You? Party System Properties and the Distribution of Concessions
Discussant: Lasse Lykke Rørbæk (AU)

11:00-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15-12.00 Vilde Djuve (Aarhus University) & Tore Wig (University of Oslo) Patterns of Regime   Breakdown since the French Revolution
Discussant: Alexander Schmotz

12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:00-13:45 Andrej Kokkonen (Aarhus University) The King Is Dead: Political Succession and Civil War in Europe, 1000-1799
Discussant: Bertel Teilfeldt Hansen    

Participation

The workshop is open for attendance for a limited number of academic participants who are interested in the topic (without giving a talk). To attend please contact Svend-erik Skaaning at  skaaning@aias.au.dk.

Hosts/sponsors and organizer

Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS)

Conflict and Democratization (CODE) project

Professor, PhD, Svend-Erik Skaaning (skaaning@aias.au.dk), Jens Christian Skou Fellow at AIAS.