Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T20:13:09.714Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Strategies of Repression

Judicial and Extrajudicial Methods of Autocratic Survival

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2018

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Strategies of repression vary widely between extrajudicial and judicial extremes, from unrestrained acts of violence to highly routinized legal procedures. While the former have received a great deal of scholarly attention, judicial methods remain relatively understudied. When and why do rulers repress their rivals in court? The author argues that autocrats use a judicial strategy of repression when confronting challengers from within the ruling elite. Unlike regime outsiders, who pose a common, external threat to mobilize against, insiders present a more divisive target. When autocrats confront the latter, a judicial strategy legitimizes punishment, deters future rivals, and generates shared beliefs regarding incumbent strength and challenger weakness. Using original data on political prisoners in postcolonial sub-Saharan Africa, the author finds that autocrats were significantly more likely to use a judicial strategy against insiders and an extrajudicial strategy against outsiders. A case study of Kenya traces the logic of the theory, showing how intraregime conflict made courts a valuable instrument of state repression. The findings demonstrate how courts can play a central role in autocratic survival.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 2018 

References

Aksoy, Deniz, Carter, David B., and Wright, Joseph. 2015. “Terrorism and the Fate of Dictators.World Politics 67, no. 3 ( July): 423–68. doi:10.1017/S0043887115000118.Google Scholar
Albertus, Michael, and Menaldo, Victor A.. 2012. “Coercive Capacity and the Prospects for Democratization.Comparative Politics 44, no. 2: 151–69. At http://www.jstor.org/stable/23211808.Google Scholar
Amnesty International. 1985. Amnesty International Report, 1985. London, UK: Amnesty International Publications.Google Scholar
Bermeo, Nancy. 2016. “On Democratic Backsliding.Journal of Democracy 27, no. 1: 519. doi: 10.1353/jod.2016.0012.Google Scholar
Bienen, Henry. 1985. “Populist Military Regimes in West Africa.Armed Forces & Society 11, no. 3: 357–77. doi: 10.1177/0095327X8501100302.Google Scholar
Brownlee, Jason. 2008. “Bound to Rule: Party Institutions and Regime Trajectories in Malaysia and the Philippines.Journal of East Asian Studies 8, no. 1: 89118. doi: 10.1017/S1598240800005105.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, Smith, Alastair, Siverson, Randolph M., and Morrow, James D.. 2005. The Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Carey, Sabine C. 2010. “The Use of Repression as a Response to Domestic Dissent.Political Studies 58, no. 1: 167–86. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00771.x.Google Scholar
Carothers, Thomas. 1998. “The Rule of Law Revival.Foreign Affairs 77, no. 2: 95106.Google Scholar
Cartwright, John, and Cox, Thomas S.. 1972. “Left Turn for Sierra Leone?Africa Report 17, no. 1: 1618.Google Scholar
Chanock, Martin. 1985. Law, Custom, and Social Order: The Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cheesman, Nick. 2011. “How an Authoritarian Regime in Burma Used Special Courts to Defeat Judicial Independence.Law & Society Review 45, no. 4: 801–30. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5893.2011.00457.x.Google Scholar
Christenson, Ron. 1983. “A Political Theory of Political Trials.Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 74, no. 2: 547–77.Google Scholar
Chwe, Michael Suk-Young. 2001. Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cingranelli, David L., and Richards, David L.. 2014. “The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI ) Human Rights Data Project Coding Manual.” CIRI Human Rights Data Project, V5.20.14. At http://www.humanrightsdata.com/p/data-documentation.html.Google Scholar
Cover, Robert M. 1986. “Violence and the Word.” Faculty Scholarship Series, No. 2708. At http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/2708, accessed April 19, 2018.Google Scholar
Cross, Frank B. 1999. “The Relevance of Law in Human Rights Protection.International Review of Law and Economics 19, no. 1: 8798. doi: 10.1016/S0144-8188(98)00028-3.Google Scholar
Davenport, Christian. 2007. “State Repression and Political Order.Annual Review of Political Science 10: 123. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.101405.143216.Google Scholar
Decalo, Samuel. 1989. “Modalities of Civil-Military Stability in Africa.Journal of Modern African Studies 27, no. 4: 547–78.Google Scholar
Elkins, Zachary, Ginsburg, Tom, and Melton, James. 2009. The Endurance of National Constitutions. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ellett, Rachel. 2013. Pathways to Judicial Power in Transitional States: Perspectives from African Courts. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Escribà-Folch, Abel. 2013. “Repression, Political Threats, and Survival under Autocracy.International Political Science Review 34, no. 5: 543–60. doi: 10.1177/0192512113488259.Google Scholar
Falk, Barbara J. 2008. “Making Sense of Political Trials: Causes and Categories.” Munk Center for International Studies Controversies in Global Politics and Societies Occasional Paper, No. VIII. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto. At https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Falk_PoliticalTrials_CERES_2008.pdf, accessed April 19, 2018.Google Scholar
Feeley, Malcolm M. 1979. The Process Is the Punishment: Handling Cases in a Lower Criminal Court. New York, N.Y.: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Gandhi, Jennifer, and Przeworski, Adam. 2006. “Cooperation, Cooptation, and Rebellion under Dictatorships.Economics & Politics 18, no. 1: 126. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0343.2006.00160.x.Google Scholar
Geddes, Barbara. 2004. “Authoritarian Breakdown.” Manuscript. Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California at Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York, N.Y.: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom. 2002. “Confucian Constitutionalism? The Emergence of Constitutional Review in Korea and Taiwan.Law & Social Inquiry 27, no. 4: 763–99. doi: 10.1111/j.1747-4469.2002.tb00981.xGoogle Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom, and Moustafa, Tamir, eds. 2008. Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Robert Justin. 1978. Political Repression in Modern America: From 1870 to the Present. Cambridge, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co.Google Scholar
Greitens, Sheena. 2016. Dictators and Their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gurr, Ted Robert. 1988. “War, Revolution, and the Growth of the Coercive State.Comparative Political Studies 21, no. 1: 4565. doi: 10.1177/0010414088021001003.Google Scholar
Hassan, Mai. 2017. “The Strategic Shuffle: Ethnic Geography, the Internal Security Apparatus, and Elections in Kenya.American Journal of Political Science 61, no. 2: 382–95. doi: 10.1111/ajps.12279.Google Scholar
Hayward, Max. 1966. On Trial: The Soviet State versus Abram Tertz and Nikolai Arzhak. New York, N.Y.: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Helmke, Gretchen. 2002. “The Logic of Strategic Defection: Court-Executive Relations in Argentina under Dictatorship and Democracy.American Political Science Review 96, no. 2: 291303. doi: 10.1017/S0003055402000175.Google Scholar
Hill, Daniel W., and Jones, Zachary M.. 2014. “An Empirical Evaluation of Explanations for State Repression.American Political Science Review 108, no. 3: 661–87. doi: 10.1017/S0003055414000306.Google Scholar
Hornsby, Charles. 2012. Kenya: A History since Independence. London, U.K.: I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd.Google Scholar
International Commission of Jurists. 1977. Uganda and Human Rights: Reports to the UN Commission on Human Rights. Geneva, Switzerland: International Commission of Jurists.Google Scholar
Joireman, Sandra Fullerton. 2001. “Inherited Legal Systems and Effective Rule of Law: Africa and the Colonial Legacy.Journal of Modern African Studies 39, no. 4: 571–96. doi: 10.1017/S0022278X01003755.Google Scholar
Kareithi, Amos. 2010. “The Man Who Almost Became President.” Standard Digital. July 25. At http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000014620/man-who-almost-became-president/?pageNo=2, accessed on April 20, 2017.Google Scholar
Kebschull, Harvey G. 1994. “Operation ‘Just Missed’: Lessons From Failed Coup Attempts.Armed Forces & Society 20, no. 4: 565–79. doi: 10.1177/00953 27X9402000405.Google Scholar
Keith, Linda Camp, Neal Tate, C., and Poe, Steven C.. 2009. “Is the Law a Mere Parchment Barrier to Human Rights Abuse?Journal of Politics 71, no. 2: 644–60. doi: 10.1017/S0022381609090513.Google Scholar
Khalidi, Ari. 2017. “Kurdish lawmaker in Turkey sentenced to 30 months in prison.” Kurdistan 24. June 1. At http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/e44bce1b-3ea8-4632-8739-fa754c927e54, accessed June 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Kirchheimer, Otto. 1961. Political Justice: The Use of Legal Procedure for Political Ends. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
La Porta, Rafael, López de Silanes, Florencio, Pop-Eleches, Cristian, and Shleifer, Andrei. 2004. “Judicial Checks and Balances.Journal of Political Economy 112, no. 2: 445–70. doi: 10.1086/381480.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven R., and Way, Lucan A.. 2012. “Beyond Patronage: Violent Struggle, Ruling Party Cohesion, and Authoritarian Durability.Perspectives on Politics 10, no. 4: 869–89. doi: 10.1017/S1537592712002861.Google Scholar
Magaloni, Beatriz. 2008. “Credible Power-Sharing and the Longevity of Authoritarian Rule.Comparative Political Studies 41, no. 4-5: 715–41. doi: 10.1177/0010414007313124.Google Scholar
Mamdani, Mahmood. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Massoud, Mark Fathi. 2013. Law's Fragile State: Colonial, Authoritarian, and Humanitarian Legacies in Sudan. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Matsebula, J. S. 1976. A History of Swaziland. Cape Town, South Africa: Longman.Google Scholar
McGowan, Patrick J. 2003. “African Military Coups d’État, 1956–2001: Frequency, Trends and Distribution.Journal of Modern African Studies 41, no. 3: 339–70. doi: 10.1017/S0022278X0300435X.Google Scholar
Meisler, S. 1969. “Kenya Puzzle: Who Plotted Mboya Murder?” Los Angeles Times. August 17. At http://search.proquest.com/docview/156290534?accountid=14496, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Mfula, Chris. 2017. “Zambian Court Allows Opposition Leader to Challenge Treason Prosecution.” Reuters. May 26. At http://www.reuters.com/article/us-zambia-politics-idUSKBN18M1RH, accessed June 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Robert C., Morrison, Donald G., and Paden, John N.. 1989. Black Africa: A Comparative Handbook. London, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Moore, W. H. 2000. “The Repression of Dissent: A Substitution Model of Government Coercion.Journal of Conflict Resolution 44, no. 1: 107–27. doi: 10.1177/0022002700044001006.Google Scholar
Moustafa, Tamir. 2007. The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moustafa, Tamir. 2014. “Law and Courts in Authoritarian Regimes.Annual Review of Law and Social Science 10: 281–99. doi: 10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110413-030532.Google Scholar
Mueller, Susanne D. 1984. “Government and Opposition in Kenya, 1966–9.Journal of Modern African Studies 22, no. 3: 399—427. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00055105.Google Scholar
Myerson, Roger B. 2008. “The Autocrat's Credibility Problem and Foundations of the Constitutional State.American Political Science Review 102, no. 1: 125– 39. doi: 10.1017/S0003055408080076.Google Scholar
The Nation (Nairobi). 2006. “Kenya: How Raila Escaped Death Penalty Over Coup Plot.” July 15. At http://allafrica.com/stories/200607170128.html, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
New York Times. 1982. “Kenya Accuses Son of a Political Outcast.” September 23. At http://search.proquest.com/docview/121961281?accountid=14496, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
New York Times. 1983. “Kenyan Leader Frees 473 Held After Uprising.” February 23. At http://search.proquest.com/docview/122248151?accountid=14496, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
North, Douglass C., and Weingast, Barry R.. 1989. “Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England.Journal of Economic History 49, no. 4: 803–32. doi: 10.1017/S0022050700009451.Google Scholar
Observer. 1964a. “Dictating Democracy.” January 5. At http://search.proquest.com/docview/475703002?accountid=14496, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Observer. 1964b. “Malawi Rebels ‘Plan Invasion.’” December 20. At http://search.proquest.com/docview/475732738?accountid=14496, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Guillermo A. 2004. “Why the Rule of Law Matters.Journal of Democracy 15, no. 4: 3246. doi: 10.1353/jod.2004.0076.Google Scholar
Pereira, Anthony W. 2005. Political (In)Justice: Authoritarianism and the Rule of Law in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Pittsburg, Pa.: University of Pittsburg Press.Google Scholar
Polanyi, Michael. 1958. Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Pierskalla, Jan Henryk. 2009. “Protest, Deterrence, and Escalation: The Strategic Calculus of Government Repression.Journal of Conflict Resolution 54, no. 1: 117–45. doi: 10.1177/0022002709352462.Google Scholar
Poe, Steven C., and Tate, Neal. 1994. “Repression of Personal Integrity Rights in the 1980’s: A Global Analysis.American Political Science Review 88: 853–72. doi: 10.2307/2082712.Google Scholar
Posner, Eric A. 2005. “Political Trials in Domestic and International Law.Duke Law Journal 55, no. 1: 75152. At https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol55/iss1/2, accessed April 19, 2018.Google Scholar
Powell, Emilia Justyna, and Staton, Jeffrey K.. 2009. “Domestic Judicial Institutions and Human Rights Treaty Violation.International Studies Quarterly 53, no. 1: 149–74. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2478.2008.01527.x.Google Scholar
Powell, Jonathan M., and Thyne, Clayton L.. 2011. “Global Instances of Coups from 1950 to 2010: A New Dataset.Journal of Peace Research 48, no. 2: 249– 59. doi: 10.1177/0022343310397436.Google Scholar
Radio Free Asia. 2016. “Cambodian Court Sentences Opposition Leader Kem Sokha to Five Months in Jail.” September 9. At http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cambodian-court-sentences-oppostion-leader-09092016150054.html, accessed June 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Rajah, Jothie. 2011. “Punishing Bodies, Securing the Nation: How Rule of Law Can Legitimate the Urbane Authoritarian State.Law & Social Inquiry 36, no. 4: 945–70. doi: 10.1111/j.1747-4469.2011.01257.x.Google Scholar
Riedl, Rachel. 2014. Authoritarian Origins of Democratic Party Systems in Africa. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ritter, Emily Hencken. 2014. “Policy Disputes, Political Survival, and the Onset and Severity of State Repression.Journal of Conflict Resolution 58, no. 1: 143–68. doi: 10.1177/0022002712468724.Google Scholar
Ritter, Emily Hencken, and Conrad, Courtenay R.. 2016. “Preventing and Responding to Dissent: The Observational Challenges of Explaining Strategic Repression.American Political Science Review 110, no. 1: 8599. doi: 10.1017/S0003055415000623.Google Scholar
Roberts, George. 2014. “The Uganda–Tanzania War, the Fall of Idi Amin, and the Failure of African Diplomacy, 1978–1979.Journal of Eastern African Studies 8, no. 4: 692709. doi: 10.1080/17531055.2014.946236.Google Scholar
Roessler, Philip. 2011. “The Enemy Within: Personal Rule, Coups, and Civil War in Africa.World Politics 63, no. 2 (April): 300–46. doi: 10.1017/S0043887111000049.Google Scholar
Ross, Jay. 1982. “How Kenya's Rebels Botched Their Coup.” Washington Post. August 9. At http://search.proquest.com/docview/147445523?accountid=14496, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Sadek, George. 2011. “Pending Charges against Former President Mubarak and Potential Legal Ramifications.” Law Library of Congress. At http://www.loc.gov/law/help/mubarak/pending-charges.php, accessed June 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Sanger, C. 1964. “Civil War Threat in Challenge to Banda.” Guardian. November 6.Google Scholar
Schatz, Edward. 2009. “The Soft Authoritarian Tool Kit: Agenda-Setting Power in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.Comparative Politics 41, no. 2: 203–22. doi: 10.5129/001041509X12911362972034.Google Scholar
Schedler, Andreas. 2010. “Authoritarianism's Last Line of Defense.Journal of Democracy 21, no. 1: 6980. doi: 10.1353/jod.0.0137.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1990. Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shen-Bayh, Fiona. 2018. “Replication Data for: Strategies of Repression: Judicial and Extrajudicial Methods of Autocratic Survival.” Harvard Dataverse, V1. doi: 10.7910/DVN/C1GTRV.Google Scholar
Singh, Naunihal. 2014. Seizing Power: The Strategic Logic of Military Coups. Baltimore, Md.: John Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Slater, Dan. 2010. Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Slater, Dan, and Fenner, Sofia. 2011. “State Power and Staying Power: Infrastructural Mechanisms and Authoritarian Durability.Journal of International Affairs 65, no. 1: 1529. doi: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24388179.Google Scholar
Solomon, Peter H. 1996. Soviet Criminal Justice under Stalin. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Solomon, Peter H. 2007. “Courts and Judges in Authoritarian Regimes.World Politics 60, no. 1 (October): 122–45. doi: 10.1353/wp.0.0004.Google Scholar
Stern, Rachel E., and Hassid, Jonathan. 2012. “Amplifying Silence: Uncertainty and Control Parables in Contemporary China.Comparative Political Studies 45, no. 10: 1230–54. doi: 10.1177/0010414011434295.Google Scholar
Stern, Rachel E., and O’Brien, Kevin J.. 2011. “Politics at the Boundary: Mixed Signals and the Chinese State.Modern China 38, no. 2: 174–98. doi: 10.1177/0097700411421463.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Christopher M. 2016. “Political Repression and the Destruction of Dissident Organizations: Evidence from the Archives of the Guatemalan National Police.World Politics 68, no. 4 (October): 645–76. doi: 10.1017/S0043887116000125.Google Scholar
Svolik, Milan W. 2009. “Power Sharing and Leadership Dynamics in Authoritarian Regimes.American Journal of Political Science 53, no. 2: 477–94. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2009.00382.x.Google Scholar
Svolik, Milan W. 2012. The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tate, C. Neal, and Haynie, Stacia L.. 1993. “Authoritarianism and the Functions of Courts: A Time Series Analysis of the Philippine Supreme Court, 1961– 1987.Law & Society Review 27, no. 4: 707–40. doi: 10.2307/3053951.Google Scholar
Tate, C. Neal, and Keith, Linda Camp. 2007. “Conceptualizing and Operationalizing Judicial Independence Globally.” Paper prepared for the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, August 30–September 1.Google Scholar
TNA (The National Archives). 1967–1968. FCO (Foreign Commonwealth Office) 31/209 Kenya Political Internal. At http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6010724.Google Scholar
TNA (The National Archives). 1971. FCO 31/1190 Kenya: Annual Review for 1971. At http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11087639.Google Scholar
TNA (The National Archives). 1982. FCO 31/3566 Attempted Coup in Kenya, 1 August 1982. At http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14879587.Google Scholar
Tullock, Gordon. 1987. Autocracy. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.Google Scholar
Twumasi, Paul K. 1985. Criminal Law in Ghana. Accra, Ghana: Ghana Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Ugandan Government. 1975. “The Economic Crimes Tribunal Decree, 1975.” At http://www.heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.cow/zzug0022&collection=cow&id=2, accessed December 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Voice of America. 2017. “Bahrain Court Orders Dissolution of Last Major Opposition Group.” May 31. At https://www.voanews.com/a/bahrain-court-ordersdissolution-opposition-group/3881444.html, accessed June 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Washington Post. 1971. “Bizarre Coup Plot is Kenya Warning.” June 6. At http://search.proquest.com/docview/148117134?accountid=14496, accessed June 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Weingast, Barry R. 2010. “Why Developing Countries Prove so Resistant to the Rule of Law.” In Heckman, James J., Nelson, Robert L., and Cabtingan, Lee, eds., Global Perspectives on the Rule of Law. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Westmoreland, William C. 1971. “Military Justice—A Commander's Viewpoint.American Criminal Law Review 10, no. 1: 58.Google Scholar
World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. 2016. “WJP Rule of Law Index 2016 Report.” World Justice Project. At https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/wjp-rule-law-index/wjp-rule-law-index-2016, accessed April 19, 2018.Google Scholar
Wright, Joseph, and Escribà-Folch, Abel. 2011. “Authoritarian Institutions and Regime Survival: Transitions to Democracy and Subsequent Autocracy.British Journal of Political Science 42: 283309. doi: 10.1017/S0007123411000317.Google Scholar
Young, Crawford. 2012. The Postcolonial State in Africa: Fifty Years of Independence, 1960–2010. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar