Focus on elections: Remarks on the Contemporary Methodology for Classifying Non-Democratic Regimes

This article describes and analyses current trends in classifying non-democratic regimes. A brief overview of the basic typologies (J. J. Linz, S. P. Huntington, W. Merkel) is given first. The article then focuses on the methodology currently used for classifying non-democratic regimes, one which is connected to a significant degree with the theory of so-called hybrid regimes. Placing a strong emphasis on the texts of L. Diamond, A. Schedler, S. Levitsky and L. A. Way, the authors attempt to illustrate the methodological consequences the application of this theory has for the relevant area of political science. The authors particularly concentrate on the exclusive role of the elections as a variable of classification, or, respectively, on the concept of elections as a criterion applied in a continuum between electoral democracies at the one end, and competitive authoritarianisms at the other. This paper provides a critical reflection on this approach and points out its methodological limits. According to the authors, elections can be used to discriminate between democracies and non-democracies, however, within the category of the nondemocratic regime one needs to apply a different set of criteria in order to be able to discriminate further

Post-Communist Non-Democratic and Hybrid Political Systems

Cílem sekce SEPS Postkomunistické nedemokratické a hybridní politické systémy (Post-Communist Non-Democratic and Hybrid Political Systems) je nabídnout odborné čtenářské obci pět případových studií zajímavých defektních či nedemokratických režimů (Albánie, Ázerbájdžán, Bělorusko, Rusko, Srbsko), které se objevily v postkomunistickém areálu po roce 1989. Jedná se o první souborný výstup v rámci grantového projektu Nedemokratické politické systémy v postkomunistickém areálu (GAČR 407/04/0331), jehož editory jsou Stanislav Balík ([email protected]) a Jan Holzer ([email protected]). Na jednotlivých textech se přitom kromě editorů autorsky podíleli doktorandi Katedry politologie FSS MU v Brně