Centre–Province Relations in Personalist Autocracies: Explaining the Emergence and Survival of Powerful Provincial Leaders. Issue 3 (7th July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tolstrup, Jakob; Souleimanov, Emil
• Is Part Of: Government and opposition. Volume 57:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 446
• Page End: 466
• Publication Date: 2022-07-07
• Subjects: personalist autocracies -- comparative authoritarianism -- centre–periphery relationship -- Russia; Political science -- Periodicals; 320.05
• DOI: 10.1017/gov.2021.13
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0017-257X

Abstract

Abstract: We have limited knowledge of how the insecure environment characteristic of personalist dictatorships affects the behaviour of provincial leaders. In this article, we argue that such provincial leaders face a trade-off: either they can keep a low profile but remain vulnerable to the capriciousness of the ruler (the acquiescent strategy), or they can gamble and try to build a power base of their own as a defence against the whims of the dictator (the power-accruing strategy). Next, we specify three contextual conditions, each of which makes provincial leaders more likely to choose and succeed with a power-accruing strategy, which in turn allows them to rule their province with an iron fist. Finally, empirically, we illustrate our arguments through a number of example cases and an in-depth study of a contemporary, very powerful provincial leader in a personalist authoritarian regime: Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Chechen Republic within Vladimir Putin's Russia.