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Dominant Power Politics
Dominant power politics refers to a semiauthoritarian political system in which one ruling party minimizes political competition while simultaneously enabling state-building reforms. It is a political system within the “gray zone” between a democracy and a dictatorship. This entry introduces the concept of dominant power politics by examining the dimensions of this political system, its key characteristics, and the challenges of ending dominant power regimes.
The Emergence of the Term
The term dominant power politics was first presented by Thomas Carothers in an article published in the Journal of Democracy in 2002. Carothers identified that most countries that were previously considered “transition countries”—that is, countries that were not dictatorial or autocratic but assumed to be moving toward democracies—were not necessarily in transition at all. Instead, he suggested ...
- Cognitive Processes
- Attribution Theory
- Closure, Need for
- Collective Action
- Confirmation Bias
- Decision Making
- Hearts and Minds Approach
- Images and Theory in International Relations
- Insurgency
- Locus of Control
- Moral Dilemmas
- Morality and Politics
- Political Morality
- Political Plasticity
- Prejudice
- Risky Shift
- Routes to Persuasion, Central and Peripheral
- Self-Categorization Theory
- Significance, Need for
- Similarity-Attraction
- Social Categories
- Social Cognition
- Source Bias
- Stereotypes
- Symbolic Racism
- Tolerance for Ambiguity
- Group Identities and Influence
- Activism
- Aggressive Capitulation
- Agonism
- American Exceptionalism
- Assimilation
- Civil Disobedience
- Conflicts, Protracted
- Conformity
- Death of Leaders
- Deviance and Control
- Egocentrism
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- Ethnocentrism
- Feminism
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- Gender Bias
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- Genocide
- Group Ideologies
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- Identity Politics
- Intractable Conflicts
- Mass Political Behavior
- Mutual Radicalization
- National Character
- Nationalism
- Nonviolence
- Obedience
- Patriotism
- Political Plasticity
- Political Psychologies of Terrorism
- Pressure Groups
- Race and Ethnicity
- Slavery in America
- Social Class
- Social Networking
- Social Stratification and Inequality
- Sociobiology
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- Women and Leadership
- Individual Political Behavior
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- Cyberactivism
- Economics and Political Behavior
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- False Consciousness
- Followership and Personality
- F-Scale
- Greenstein’s Six Components of Presidential Leadership
- Irrationality
- Lone Wolf Terrorism
- Machiavellianism
- Military Action
- Narcissism
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- Neustadt’s Theory of Presidential Power
- Optimal Distinctiveness Theory
- Parental Worldview and Children
- Patrimonialism
- Political Plasticity
- Powerlessness
- Praetorianism
- Psychobiography
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- Self-Esteem
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- Values and Politics
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- Rule of Law
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- Tragedy of the Commons
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- Media, Discourse, and Communications
- Art in Political Campaigns
- Assassinations/Violence in Politics
- Business in Politics
- Conspiracies
- Cyberactivism
- Cyberwar
- Diplomacy
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- Mass Communication
- Media Framing
- Mediation Skills
- Mission Statements
- Mutual Radicalization
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- Personality Traits
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- Political Mandates
- Political Persuasion and Rhetoric
- Political Socialization
- Political Symbolism
- Politics After Tragedy
- Polling
- Print Media
- Propaganda
- Public Opinion
- Source Bias
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- Policies and Political Behavior
- “Spoiler” Effect in Politics
- Caste System
- Citizenship
- Civil-Military Relations
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- Defense Planning
- Deterrence and Crime
- Deterrence and International Relations
- Districting
- End to Terrorism, Theories of
- English-Only Movement
- Environmental Skepticism
- Extradition
- Feckless Pluralism
- Hearts and Minds Approach
- Immigration
- Keynesian Economics
- Multiculturalism
- Negative Peace
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- Peacemaking
- Positive Peace
- Public Goods
- Reconciliation
- Refugees
- Rentier State
- Rent-Seeking Behavior
- Social Welfare
- State-Sponsored Terror
- Third Party
- Values and Politics
- Political Systems
- Bicameralism
- Bureaucratic Politics
- Bureaucratic Structure
- Capitalism
- Civic and Political Knowledge and Skills
- Clientelism
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- Conservatism
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- Democracy
- Dictatorship
- Direct Versus Indirect Democracy
- Duverger’s Law on Elections
- Election Rigging
- Electoral Systems
- Electoralism
- Fascism
- Hybrid Regimes
- Islam Versus Islamism
- Marxism
- Oligarchy
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- Partisanship
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- Political Ideology
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- Proletariat and Capitalism
- Public Goods
- Representative Democracy
- Socialism and Communism
- Strong President Model
- Term Limits
- Totalitarianism
- Unicameralism
- Security and Terrorism
- al Qaeda
- Asymmetric Warfare
- Drones
- Hostage Taking
- Human Trafficking
- Islamic State
- Maritime Terrorism
- Mutual Radicalization
- Narcoterrorism
- Nuclear Taboo
- Political Psychologies of Terrorism
- Refugees
- State Development
- State-Sponsored Terror
- Terrorism, Theories and Models
- Terrorist Networks
- Transitioning Fragile States
- Wars of Attrition
- Social Political Movements
- Alienation
- Biopolitics
- Brand Identification and Loyalty
- Cyberactivism
- Gerontology, Sociopolitical
- Get-Out-the-Vote Efforts
- Internet Jihadism
- Islam Versus Islamism
- Jihad
- Mutual Radicalization
- Neoliberalism
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- Political Plasticity
- Radicalization
- Ritual in Politics
- Self-Help Ideology
- Social Darwinism
- Social Influence
- Social Movements
- Social Revolts
- Values
- Values and Politics
- Women’s Liberation Movement
- Youth and Political Change
- Theories of Political Behavior
- End of History and the Last Man, The (Fukuyama)
- Absolutism
- Bellicism
- Clash of Civilizations
- Conflict Theory, Realistic
- Contact Theory
- Counter-Elite
- Development, Theories of
- Dominant Power Politics
- Egoistical Relative Deprivation
- Elite Decision Making
- Elite Theory (Pareto)
- End of History Thesis for Corporate Law
- End to Terrorism, Theories of
- Essentialism
- Extended Contact
- Functionalism
- Group Relative Deprivation
- Imagined Contact
- Indoctrination
- Legitimacy, Forms of
- Liberalism
- Malthusian Cycle
- Materialism: Rational and Psychological Perspectives
- Meritocracy
- Nationalism
- New Left
- Pacifism
- Positioning Theory
- Prisoner’s Dilemma
- Realism
- Relative Deprivation Theory
- Resource Mobilization
- Ripeness Theory and Conflict Resolution
- Sleeper Effect
- Social Contract
- Social Dominance Orientation
- Social Dominance Theory
- Social Identity Theory
- Social Investment Theory
- Springboard Model of Dictatorship
- Stability-Instability Paradox
- State-Sponsored Terror
- System Justification
- Terror Management Theory
- Terrorism, Theories and Models
- Transitology
- Veil of Ignorance in Rawlsian Theory
- Voting Behavior, Theories of
- Weber’s Protestant Ethic
- Voting Behavior and Political Campaigns
- Advocacy
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- Blue-Dog Democrats
- Civic and Political Knowledge and Skills
- Decision Making
- Disengagement
- Economic-Based Voting Blocs
- Emotions and Political Decision Making
- Emotions and Voting
- Ethnicity-Based Voting Blocs
- Expected-Utility Model
- Framing Effects
- Heuristics
- Hierarchy of Needs
- Implicit Association Test
- Implicit Cognitive Processes and Voting
- Life Cycle Effects
- Lobbying
- Minority Voters
- Motivated Reasoning
- Party Identification
- Party List
- Party Systems
- Political Participation
- Political Plasticity
- Prospect Theory
- Rational Choice
- Religion-Based Voting Blocs
- Religiosity
- Rural Voters
- Social Capital
- Suburban Voters
- Trust
- Urban Voters
- Voter Disenfranchisement
- Voter Identification
- Voter Mobility
- Voting Behavior, Theories of
- Voting, History of
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