Abstract Is American government becoming authoritarian, and if so, how? Converting a nonautocratic state to authoritarian ends requires at least three transformations: (1) centralization of preexisting administrative processes, (2) elimination of obstructive personnel, and (3) creation of a national police force. Understanding these processes and their implications for the United States requires not only understanding of comparative politics but also appreciation for the complexities of American bureaucratic development. I review previous developments in near-authoritarian governance in the United States under the Adams Administration, the Fugitive Slave Act, and the development of Comstockery and the FBI. Focusing on state conversion pinpoints the likely strategies of authoritarians in America as well as possible reform strategies for protecting public administration in a democratic republic.

Party institutionalization and strength are two distinct concepts widely used in Comparative Politics. Despite the centrality of these concepts, we lack measures of party institutionalization and strength that (1) accurately measure the concepts, (2) are measured at the party level, (3) are geographically expansive, and (4) cover a substantial temporal coverage. In this paper, we introduce the Party Institutionalization and Party Strength (PIPS) dataset. Using party-election V-Party data, we construct several measures of party institutionalization and strength for parties across the globe since 1970. In addition to individual party scores, our measures include system-level averages of party institutionalization and strength, measures that distinguish between incumbent and opposition parties, and measures of institutionalization and strength contingent on whether the party exists in a democratic or authoritarian regime.

This study conducts a quantitative analysis of case studies in comparative political research through an examination of Comparative Political Studies. Drawing upon a comprehensive sample of 33 journal issues published between 1973 and 2001, the analysis encompasses 55 single-country studies, and aims to contribute to the empirical scholarship on comparative political research methodology, adding to the limited literature that grounds its analysis in empirical evidence regarding actual research practices. By delineating the sample into two distinct temporal periods, this research investigates evolving patterns in case study publication frequency, methodological approaches, and regional concentrations within these studies. While the findings demonstrate the substantial contribution of case studies to the journal, they simultaneously reveal a marked decline in their prevalence following 1989. The analysis further identifies a methodological transition from the predominant use of interviews and surveys to an increased reliance on archival documentation in the post-1989 period. These transformations are contextualized within the broader processes of globalization and post-Cold War conjuncture. Additionally, the study critically examines the geographical concentration of case studies, unevenly studying Western Europe and Latin America cases and systematically underrepresenting other areas. The persistence of this geographical bias beyond 1989 is situated within the structural dynamics of modern academic knowledge production.

This study examines voter perceptions of political party similarity using data from a validated online survey conducted in Taiwan. It primarily collects qualitative data through open-ended questions, complemented by Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and feature matching techniques. The findings reveal that party competition in Taiwan is multidimensional, extending beyond traditional blue-green and unification-independence divides. Notably, local Taiwanese issues and social concerns have become increasingly prominent among emerging third parties. Feature matching results show that 22.53% of respondents clearly distinguish the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), while 11.42% identify the New Power Party (NPP), differentiating it from the pan-green camp as part of the emerging third force. Taiwan’s unique political context, shaped by democratization, cross-strait tensions, and the rise of influential third parties, provides valuable insights for comparative politics. The study offers an analytical framework for understanding party system evolution in emerging democracies and deepens our grasp of how identity politics and diverse political engagement transform political competition. This framework enables scholars to systematically capture complex voter perceptions in multi-party systems and facilitates comparative analysis across political environments marked by identity-based polarization and increasing party plurality.

Comparative politics considers the Western European model of Christian democracy to be absent in Eastern Europe. Hence, little is known about the ideological and institutional specificity of the local Christian democracies. I revise and complement this scholarship through a historical analysis exploring the formation of Christian democratic parties in the Third Czechoslovak Republic (1945–1948). I unearth this legacy’s origins and document how the newly organised Christian democratic parties transmitted and localised conceptual innovations developed by their Western counterparts. Besides redescribing the boundaries of the Christian democratic party family, the findings complicate regional generalisations on the nexus between liberalism, nationalism, and religion.

Over the last decades, critical scholarship in International Relations (IR) has grown, highlighting the Eurocentric, positivist, and hegemonic knowledge-making practices. These critiques have not only highlighted the shortcomings of IR practice but also established their own standpoints, frameworks, and approaches in the discipline, such as Global IR, pluriverse, relationality, and others. While central in imagining alternate IR and its practices, the critiques have ignored the methodological concerns and questions surrounding scholarship, particularly how to do non-Western research in IR and through what means? To address this, this study turns to Comparative Political Theory (CPT), a subfield of political theory, to reflect on questions of methodology and methods in IR. This research proposes espousing the comparative label from CPT and thinking about IR through CPT’s method of ‘dialogue’ and ‘three-step hermeneutics’. ‘Dialogue’ and ‘three-step hermeneutics’ offers critical tools for pursuing non-Western scholarship in IR, emphasising practices of empathetic listening and interpretation led by immersion within the field. By foregrounding methods and methodological discussions in IR, this research aims to reconcile the demands of intelligibility, policy, and practice of non-Western approaches within the discipline.

The article covers the macro-regional context of case-oriented regional studies in political comparative studies. The case-study format is an in-depth study of a single case in order to understand a specific object or even a class of similar objects, and is a consideration of a specific object "in the moment". This type of research is characterized by obtaining detailed information on the parameters and characteristics of the phenomenon scrutinizing and is based on a non-experimental type of evidence based on observation. One of the effective formats of comparative research is countries comparison located within the same region (sometimes it is a macroregion, sometimes it is an entire continent), or comparison of the (macro)regions with similar entities. A variety of territorial configurations and a variety of interpretations of the concept of a macroregion in comparative political science, along with the above-mentioned interpretations, the division by continents/continents and the historical and cultural division by cardinal directions East-West, North-South also retain their importance. Elements of such a comparison are presented in this issue of “Comparative Politics”, which contains articles analyzing a number of aspects of Western, Latin American, and African politics.

Objective/context: This article analyses the strategies of political continuity employed by governors in contexts of limited pluralism, based on the case study of Gildo Insfrán, who has continuously governed the province of Formosa, Argentina, since 1995. Methodology: The research relies on a case study, a methodological strategy that enables the tracing of causal mechanisms and the understanding of complex phenomena in specific contexts. The empirical work draws on the triangulation of sources—official documents, local press, specialized literature, and electoral statistics—complemented by in-depth interviews with key provincial actors. These were selected through a snowball sampling technique, which facilitated access to relevant informants and provided diverse perspectives. Conclusions: The case of Insfrán represents an extreme example of prolonged tenure in power at the subnational level. While the absence of alternation undermines democratic quality in the province, the combination of illiberal strategies with the construction of legitimacy has consolidated a successful and enduring political leadership. The article argues that Insfrán’s continuity rests on three strategies: legitimacy, coercion, and cooptation. Legitimacy is tied to governance and the provision of public goods, securing citizen support through tangible benefits. Coercion, combined with territorial control, constitutes a fundamental pillar of gubernatorial power, though it is implemented in a low-intensity form to reduce political costs and prevent the governor from being directly perceived as responsible. Cooptation projects an image of pluralism by incorporating opposition actors, while simultaneously fragmenting and weakening the opposition. Originality: This article offers a comprehensive analysis of power maintenance in Formosa, linking approaches from comparative politics with a detailed case study. Its contribution lies in the debate on subnational democratization and alternation in closed political systems, providing a key perspective for understanding power dynamics in such contexts.

ABSTRACTThe green transition is fundamentally transforming contemporary economies and societies. This article investigates how European models of capitalism perform and specialize across the green value chain—conceptualized as innovation, manufacturing, services, and deployment—and how national skill formation systems underpin these specializations. Integrating insights from comparative capitalism literatures with descriptive statistics and principal component analysis (PCA), we develop and test expectations about growth regime‐specific patterns of green specialization and skill profiles. Our findings reveal marked cross‐national variation between green leaders and laggards: Nordic economies characterized by dynamic services and continental manufacturing‐based models are frontrunners in the green transition, while Eastern Europe's FDI‐led regimes and Southern Europe's demand‐led regimes emerge as laggards. Furthermore, PCA results uncover two distinct decarbonization pathways among European green leaders: one group of countries (Austria, Finland, Germany) specializes in green manufacturing, supported by high shares of STEM graduates; another (Denmark, Switzerland, and to a lesser extent Norway and Sweden) focuses on green innovation and dynamic services, sustained by a strong supply of STEM doctorates. This article contributes to political economy debates on the green transition by identifying distinct green specializations and decarbonization pathways across European models of capitalism and by underscoring the growing centrality of high‐level STEM skills in the green transition.

ABSTRACT Recent studies have examined how great powers resorted to wedging and binding strategies to persuade, incentivize, or coerce target states to achieve their desired outcomes. However, there is less research on how the target state responds to these strategies. This article addresses this gap by proposing a theoretical framework that postulates that political and economic cohesion are decisive to explain the susceptibility of target states to wedging and binding strategies exerted by great powers. Using case studies of Italy and the UK’s decisions to ban Chinese telecommunications companies from their 5G networks, we demonstrate how variations in a target state’s political and economic cohesion influence its susceptibility to external pressures. Our findings contribute to the literature by incorporating comparative politics and research on state-business relations to understand alliance breaking and strategic alignment in international relations.

ABSTRACT Since the 2000s, two parallel phenomena – the “third wave of autocratisation” and the “reaffirmation of authoritarian great powers” – have contributed to the development of the autocracy promotion literature. This scholarship shows conceptual problems and increasingly evident scope issues. These issues arise from neglecting phenomena tied to the more assertive foreign policy of prominent autocracies, including corrosive capital, digital authoritarianism and disinformation, or new surveillance tools. Such factors contribute to autocratisation processes in both democracies and autocracies. Hence, we propose a branching tree typology to map the conceptual space of the international dimension of autocratisation. Our typology tackles both conceptual and scope issues, highlighting the growing relevance of indirect forms of external influence on autocratisation, which we call “indirect democracy prevention/erosion”. Our goal is to stimulate debate among both IR and comparative politics scholars, encouraging innovative approaches to assess the role of the international dimension in contemporary autocratisation processes.

The transition of Bangladesh from an electoral democracy to an authoritarian state, while undergoing visible economic and social development, is a paradox. What factors, from home and abroad, are responsible for the emergence and persistence of Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian rule in Bangladesh? This article aims to answer the above question based on secondary data sources using several theoretical frameworks related to the rise of authoritarianism. It argues that several social, political, economic, and cultural factors are responsible for the emergence and persistence of authoritarianism under the Sheikh Hasina regime. These factors include fracturing political institutions, India's intervention, the culture of fear, and collective action problems. Besides, internal political culture, say confused democrats, is also a contributory cause of the emergence of Hasina's autocratic regime. This study contributes to comparative politics by offering insights into how authoritarianism emerged and persisted in developing countries. Its findings will enhance our understanding of the structural and contextual factors driving authoritarian trends, offering comparative perspectives relevant to comparativists.

The article is devoted to clarifying the heuristic possibilities of the case-based approach (case study) in comparative political science. This approach correlates with ideographic knowledge within the framework of the division of epistemology into nomothetic (comprehension of patterns) and ideographic (descriptive) sciences (W. Windelband); with understanding knowledge within the framework of the distinction between explanatory and understanding sciences (V. Dilthey) and a rich (thick) description in contrast to the "unsaturated" (thin) (K. Geertz).By identifying different types of knowledge, the case-oriented approach acquires a threedimensional sound, meaning and content, opens up opportunities for in-depth development of political and theoretical concepts based on the reference material for the topic and allows you to obtain a rich texture in details and specifics. The relevance of the casual approach is largely determined by the limited resources needed to explore a significant number of countries, sometimes due to linguistic or geographical restrictions.The specifics of the case study determine such an important requirement for the choice of a case as an informed choice of study objects. Since political institutions and processes are the central object of political science, and given the central role of the state as a key institution of political architecture, the configuration of the state and the policies it produces are the core of regional studies. Due to the fact that the concept of the state is an umbrella term and is characterized by conceptual tensions, it can potentially be applicable to polities of different times, which forms a request for clarification of the conceptual framework for considering the state as a category of political science.Since States as independent actors determine the "rules of the game" in the context of international anarchy, it is the level of states as units of analysis that underlies structural and systemic studies of international relations and world politics: sovereign states act as the basic "cells" of the modern world order, despite the increasing importance of non-state actors. The position of a State in a hierarchical international system is derived from its national power, which, according to classical approaches, is interpreted as a derivative of parameters such as territory, population, economy, and military potential, including its nuclear component.The proposed issue of Comparative Politics contains a diverse panorama of case studies characterizing the multidirectional evolution of a number of policies, including some BRICS members and EU members.

ABSTRACTThis article examines epistemic imbalances in the EU migration literature and their connection to socioeconomic inequalities. While scholarship has largely focused on immigration to EU core countries, emigration—particularly from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)— remains underexplored. Through a meta‐review of 1563 CEE‐focused migration studies (2007–2022) and 9801 studies on EU core countries, the article identifies knowledge silos and academic regionalism as two key challenges. It argues that these structural imbalances hinder comprehensive analyses of migration's socioeconomic effects and policy responses to them. To address this, the article advances a Comparative Political Economy lens to show how the varying structure of interdependent national economies shape these effects and how governments introduce policies to respond to them. It is applied to a case study of Poland's PiS government (2015–2023) to illustrate how peripheral countries can navigate the unequal effects of liberal migration regimes. The findings underscore the need for integrated, cross‐regional and transdisciplinary approaches to account for the interdependence between core and peripheral countries in explaining socioeconomic effects of international migration.

Over several semesters, I have engaged students in a country-writing project as their final. The project builds upon an earlier assignment in which students are assigned a UN member-state and required to summarize features of the constitution (including group and individual rights, regime type and system of government). In addition, students in this earlier project examine the level of democracy in the country according to Freedom House, perception of corruption according to Transparency International and political economy using GDP/PPP. They are also required to comment and compare their country constitution to a classmate’s country constitution. With this background, the final project has students design a constitution for the multi-ethnic country that I call Kerblakistan. I provide the students demographics (including ethnic groups and languages spoken), a map of the country as well as a political history. Based on the country characteristics of Kerblakistan, I ask students to design a constitution that addresses five elements (e.g., rights and freedoms, system of government, regime type, legislative branch and electoral system). Students are required to reflect on what form of constitution would balance group rights, provide for a sense of national unity among different ethnic groups and explain which regime type and electoral system would balance stability and representation. In this paper, I discuss the evolution of this assignment, issues to consider when assigning a constitution-writing project and provide data on students views regarding the utility of such an assignment.

This article explores the political-economic model of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the lens of authoritarian modernity, post-rentier transformation, and strategic adaptation under conditions of global uncertainty. The analysis challenges the classical assumptions of modernization theory, which posit that economic growth inevitably leads to political liberalization, by demonstrating how the UAE consolidates an authoritarian structure through contemporary governance tools, innovation, and international legitimacy. The methodology is based on a qualitative analysis of secondary data from international sources (World Bank, FAO), combined with critical interpretation of relevant theoretical frameworks in institutional economics, development sociology, and comparative politics. The central thesis of the study is that the UAE represents a new type of statehood-hybrid, technocratic, and globally positioned – where legitimacy derives not from democratic mechanisms but from efficiency, outcomes, and control over rentier and infrastructural flows. The article examines five key dimensions of this model: political system, economic diversification, sustainable agriculture, social policy, and foreign policy. Each of these demonstrates how state power is transformed into an instrument for managing the future. The article offers a new perspective on understanding the possible configurations between power, economy, and society in the 21st century and serves as a critical contribution to the debate on alternatives to the liberal political order.

ABSTRACT Why – despite decades of effort and investment by state and non-state actors – has the Afghan state suffered repeated legitimacy crises? This paper aims to address this question by theorizing the unique importance of performance legitimacy in creating consensus and support for state institutions in a fragile context. The concept of performance- legitimacy is contrasted with traditional views of state legitimacy – social contract theories, Weberian approaches, and process-based legitimacy, deepening our understanding of what legitimacy is and how it is built in fragile states. The study explores the case of Afghanistan, particularly after 2001 state formation, demonstrating how a Western focus on the wrong “types” of legitimation led to a state that could not develop sustainable public legitimacy in the eyes of citizen. This, in turn, highlights some of the key obstacles to building consensus and legitimacy in Afghanistan – namely the challenges of local governance, corruption, and the provision of basic services. In doing so, this paper aims to deepen our understanding of state legitimacy by demonstrating the importance of public service provision and the challenges created by misplaced legitimation efforts, while raising important points for both scholars and practitioners working in areas of statebuilding and legitimacy building in the field of international relations and comparative politics.

The quest for institutional engineering in post-liberation South Sudan has been a dream for institutional engineers in political science and, particularly, comparative politics for a very long time. While many South Sudanese view decentralization and federalism as the same, the empirical literature and fieldwork carried out look at decentralization as a system of governance where powers at the national government are delegated to the sub-national levels of the government. Besides, federalism is discussed as the surrendering of powers at the national level to the sub-national levels of governments. The powers that are delegated can be taken back by the national government, while the powers surrendered cannot be taken back by the national level, except for the concurrent powers. This study argues that federalism and, particularly, territorial type, are the best institutional engineering for South Sudan. This was demonstrated by 60% of 200 respondents who emphasized that South Sudan should immediately adopt territorial federalism. Although other South Sudanese and their leaders associated federalism with Kokora, a Bari word for ‘division or divide’, this has not been the case from the literature review and discussions of the results. The majority of the respondents indicated that federalism is not associated with Kokora, as it is a concept of surrendering powers to the sub-national levels of governments. Hence, there is no fear of Kokora coming back to target the non-Equatorians as it was done in the 1980s. While the study used process-tracing and a case study of South Sudan as its methodology, it also used a mixed research design that enhanced qualitative as well as quantitative approaches. Although the study deployed a sampling technique of random and cluster sampling, it determined a sample size of 200 respondents, which is sufficient for concluding, it is crucial to conclude that federalism with a territorial type is urgently required for the case of South Sudan. The government should carry out civic education on territorial federalism, and it should be adopted immediately to chart the path of South Sudan to prosperity. While adopting territorial federalism for South Sudan, quality leadership is critical for this type of federalism to yield positive results.

Abstract We investigate whether election results are associated with emotional reactions among voters across democracies and under what conditions these responses are more intense. Building on recent work in comparative politics, we theorize that emotional intensity is stronger after elections involving populist candidates and highly polarized parties. We test these expectations with a big-data analysis of emotional reactions on parties’ Facebook posts during 29 presidential elections in 26 democracies. The results show that ideological polarization of political parties might intensify emotional reactions, but there is no clear relationship with the presence of populist candidates.

Aim. To comprehensively consider both the relationship between online and offline modes in the field of transformation of the regional electoral process and the specifics of the introduction of digital technologies in the modern Russian electoral sphere at the regional level of the Russian Federation.Methodology. The research is based on universal and general scientific principles and research methods. The work uses private scientific (political science) methods such as neoinstitutional, comparative political, etc., and unique specifically sociological methods, in particular an expert focus group and expert in-depth interviews. The focus group was set up in Moscow, the federal city. Expert interviews were held in Vladimir, Alexandrov, Murom, Kolomna, Sergiev Posad, Tver, Tula, St. Petersburg, Sosnovy Bor (Leningrad Region), Pskov, Tyumen, Tobolsk, Ishim, Khanty-Mansiysk, Surgut, Ufa and Saratov. In total, 36 experts were interviewed in 12 regions, 17 cities and towns.Results. The elements of the digital political transformation process in online and offline environments have been analyzed. The influence of digital technologies on the regional political process has been shown and argued. The specifics of the introduction of digital political technologies (by the example of REV) into the regional political process are highlighted and described.Research implications. The main provisions of the work have theoretical and practical significance for further comprehensive research devoted to the specifics which the impact of digital technologies cause on the regional political process in modern Russia. The work may be useful for political consultants and political strategists since it contains an analysis of the specific features that belong to functioning of digital political technologies, especially at the regional level of the Russian Federation.