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In The Autocratic Voter, Natalie Wenzell Letsa explores the motivations behind why citizens in electoral autocracies choose to participate in politics and support political parties. With electoral autocracies becoming the most common type of regime in the modern world, Letsa challenges the dominant materialist framework for understanding political behavior and presents an alternative view of partisanship as a social identity. Her book argues that despite the irrationality and obstacles to participating in autocratic politics, people are socialized into becoming partisans by their partisan friends and family. This socialization process has a cascading effect that can either facilitate support for regime change and democracy or sustain the status quo. By delving into the social identity of partisanship, The Autocratic Voter offers a new perspective on political behavior in electoral autocracies that has the potential to shape the future of these regimes.
List of contents
1. Partisanship in electoral autocracies; 2. Social networks, political geography, and partisan socialization; 3. The case of Cameroon; 4. Opposition and ruling party partisanship as social identities; 5. Pathways to partisanship; 6. Political influence within networks; 7. Processes of political socialization; 8. The political geography of electoral autocracies; 9. Political realities in party strongholds; 10. The power and importance of partisan identities; Appendix 1. Full sampling schedule of public opinion survey; Appendix 2. Life histories of Henri, Titus, Patience and Justo; Bibliography.
About the author
Natalie Wenzell Letsa is the Wick Cary Assistant Professor of Political Economy and the Director of the African Studies Institute at the University of Oklahoma. Her work has been published at the American Political Science Review, Perspectives on Politics, and the Journal of Modern African Studies, amongst other journals.
