Christian von Soest

German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)

Current scholarship increasingly argues that international factors and, more specifically, authoritarian collaboration fundamentally affect the persistence of authoritarian rule. In order to generate a better understanding of the nature and effects of these international dimensions of authoritarianism, this article provides a conceptual framework f...

With the proliferation of sanctions after the end of the Cold War, the termination of these punitive measures has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in international politics. Yet, research has hitherto almost exclusively focused on sanctions’ implementation and effectiveness, whereas their termination has received little attention. In this paper, we d...

Governments routinely justify why the regime over which they preside is entitled to rule. These claims to legitimacy are both an expression of and shape of how a rule is being exercised. In this paper, we introduce new expert-coded measures of regime legitimation strategies (RLS) for 183 countries in the world from 1900 to 2019. Country experts rat...

In political scientists’ drive to examine causal mechanisms, qualitative expert interviews have an important role to play. This is particularly true for the analysis of complex decision-making processes, where there is a dearth of data, and for linking macro and micro levels of analysis. The paper offers suggestions for making the most effective an...

In the face of current democratic backsliding and autocratization processes, research has rediscovered issues of autocratic legitimation. However, the question of whether rulers’ personalist rhetoric to bolster their legitimacy is followed by congruent political action remains underspecified. Using new expert-coded measures for 164 countries from t...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

Edited by Natasha Lindstaedt and Jeroen J.J. Van den Bosch This Research Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the latest knowledge on authoritarian regimes. Combining quantitative research and in-depth case studies, it not only provides novel insight into past and current dictatorships, but also forecasts potential new developments in auth...

This chapter analyses the nature and effects of external pressure imposed on authoritarian regimes. Around three-quarters of all countries under United Nations, United States and European Union sanctions are authoritarian, and “democracy sanctions” that aim at improving democratic and human rights in targeted countries constitute the biggest sancti...

The termination of sanctions is an important but largely understudied phenomenon within international politics. Of the nearly 400 sanctions cases that were in place in 1990 or imposed thereafter, nearly three-quarters had been lifted by 2018. As almost all existing research has focused on threatened and imposed sanctions, we lack insight into when...

This chapter presents the main features of the neopatrimonialism concept and to assessassesses its main application, particularly in describing and analysing social, economic, and political development processes. The chapter first outlines the concept’s origins, main characteristics, and variations. This includes information on (1) its definition,...

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, there are signs that sub-Saharan Africa will experience a modest recovery in 2022. Yet at least in the first half of the year, the region will continue to suffer from inadequate provision and administration of vaccines. In addition, violent conflicts and structural weaknesses constitute considerable challenges....

The aim of this chapter is to present the main features of the post-Weberian neopatrimonialism concept and to assess its primary application, particularly in describing and analysing social, economic and political development processes. The chapter first outlines the concept's origins, main characteristics and variations. This includes information...

Beim internationalen Krisenmanagement liegt der Fokus auf der Rolle internationaler Akteure, die sich zur Lösung einer als Bedrohung der bestehenden Ordnung wahrgenommenen Krise engagieren. Nach einer grundlegenden Begriffsbestimmung stellt der Beitrag dar, in welchen Situationen Krisenmanagement angewendet wird, welche Formen es annehmen kann und...

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world region most affected by climate change. Parts of East Africa, the Sahel, and Southern Africa have been the most severely impacted on. Existing research largely sees climate change as a “threat multiplier,” and perceives high poverty and low state capability as more influential drivers of conflict. General assessments...

Beim internationalen Krisenmanagement liegt der Fokus auf der Rolle internationaler Akteure, die sich zur Lösung einer als Bedrohung der bestehenden Ordnung wahr- genommenen Krise engagieren. Nach einer grundlegenden Begriffsbestimmung stellt der Beitrag dar, in welchen Situationen Krisenmanagement angewendet wird, welche Formen es annehmen kann un...

Individual sanctions are an important category of economic sanctions, and an inextricable part of the global security and human rights regime that has informed international and national politics since the end of the Cold War. Shaping the international trend of individualizing accountability (Sikkink 2009), the United Nations, the United States, an...

In this paper we introduce new expert-coded measures of regime legitimation strategies for 179 countries inthe world from 1900 up until 2018 that are comparable across time and space. Country experts have ratedthe extent to which the government promotes or referencesits performance, the person of the leader, rational-legality, and ideologyin order...

While socio-economic development slowly progresses and democratic processes do seem to be taking root in some African countries, on balance many challenges still remain in 2019. Relations on the continent as well as with Europe and other world regions also give a mixed impression. We present a selective analysis of “10 things to watch” in Africa in...

In this paper we introduce new expert-coded measures of regime legitimation strategies for 179 countries in the world from 1900 up until 2018 that are comparable across time and space. Country experts have rated the extent to which the government promotes or references its performance, the person of the leader, rational-legality, and ideology in or...

In the rapidly unfolding multipolar world order, an unprecedented number of states, international organisations, advocacy groups, and other actors are devising and implementing a growing number of interventions to strengthen democracy, peace, and security. The political and normative views on these external interventions differ fundamentally.

The G20 Africa Partnership Conference and the AU–EU Summit, as well as the headlines related to African migrants in North Africa, put the African continent into the spotlight last year. Popular protests challenged various autocratic rulers, and the former liberation movements of Southern Africa faced their own struggles. These ambiguities in the co...

Scholars often pay insufficient attention to bridging the research divide between different world regions. We argue that structured qualitative comparisons across world regions offer a sound middle ground for the integration of universal approaches and context knowledge. The paper puts forward suggestions about how to deal with challenges in cross-...

The report (in German) deals with the effects of international sanctions on cultural relations.

Zusammenfassung Der Forschung zur Legitimität autoritärer Regime ist es bislang nur unzureichend gelungen, die Legitimationsstrategien autoritärer Regime systematisch zu erfassen und zu vergleichen. Im Gegensatz zu bestehenden Analysen, welche sich in erster Linie auf die Akzeptanz autoritärer Herrschaft konzentrieren, argumentieren wir, dass Legit...

Constructing convincing legitimacy claims is important for securing the stability of authoritarian regimes. However, extant research has struggled to systematically analyse how authoritarians substantiate their right to rule. We analyse a novel data set on authoritarian regimes’ claims to legitimacy that is based on leading country experts’ assessm...

Western powers often turn to international sanctions in order to exert pressure on incumbent governments and signal their support for the opposition. Yet whether, and through what mechanisms, sanctions trigger protest remains unclear. We argue that sanction threats work as an international stamp of approval for would-be protesters; they encourage c...

Seen against the rise of China and other authoritarian powers, Western influence is declining in relative terms. However, Western countries still have an important role to play in supporting democracy in Africa. Western assistance should be citizen-centred and involve consistent support for civic education and common training programmes for young l...

Obwohl heute in vielen afrikanischen Staaten Wahldemokratien und " mildere " Formen autoritärer Regime als zur Zeit des Kalten Krieges vorherr-schen, hat sich der Demokratisierungsprozess in Afrika verlangsamt und in vielen Fällen sogar umgekehrt. Dies führt zu einer wachsenden Kluft zwi-schen Bürgern, die weitere demokratische Rechte und Freiheite...

Non‐democratic rulers in post‐Soviet countries use specific combinations of legitimating claims to stay in power. Most notably, rulers claim to be the guardians of citizens’ socioeconomic well‐being. Second, despite recurrent infringements on political and civil rights, they maintain that their power is rule‐based and embodies the will of the peopl...

Previous research has shown that sanctions have a negative impact on the level of democracy in targeted authoritarian countries. This runs counter to substantive comparative literature on democratization which finds that economic stress is connected with regime collapse and democratic liberalization. To solve this puzzle, we focus on the effects of...

Als Reaktion auf Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Simbabwe hatten die EU, die USA und weitere westliche Staaten Anfang der 2000er Jahre Sanktionen gegen die Regierung Mugabe verhängt. Zeitweise waren mehrere Hundert Personen von Kontensperrungen und Reisebeschränkungen betroffen. Zwar sind im Fall von Simbabwe die Einwirkungsmöglichkeiten von außen gr...

Since the end of the Cold War, Western powers have frequently used sanctions to fight declining levels of democracy and human rights violations abroad. However, some of the world's most repressive autocracies have never been subjected to sanctions, while other more competitive authoritarian regimes have been exposed to repeated sanction episodes. I...

The analysis using the new Regime Legitimation Expert Survey (RLES) demonstrates that non‐democratic rulers in post‐Soviet countries use specific combinations of legitimating claims to stay in power. Most notably, rulers claim to be the guardians of citizens’ socioeconomic well‐being. Second, despite recurrent infringements on political and civil r...

International sanctions are one of the most commonly used tools to instigate democratisation in the post-Cold War era. However, despite long-term sanction pressure by the European Union, the United States and/or the United Nations, non-democratic rule has proven to be extremely persistent. Which domestic and international factors account for the re...

Why have the third wave of democratisation and concurrent economic liberalisation, contrary to many expectations, failed to lower global corruption? This article comparatively assesses systemic corruption and other features of personal rule in Argentina, Venezuela, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kenya, and Zambia. It finds that systemic corruption in...

Previous research, which has focused mostly on pre‐1990 dynamics, has shown that sanctions have a negative impact on the level of democracy in targeted authoritarian countries. Given this finding, it is puzzling that democratization has become the most common goal of sanctions issued against authoritarian states. This paper studies how sanctions ha...

Am 25. März 2013, nur einen Tag nach dem Militärputsch durch die Rebellenallianz Séléka, verhängte die Afrikanische Union (AU) Sanktionen gegen die Zentralafrika-nische Republik. Der Friedens-und Sicherheitsrat der AU suspendierte die Mitglied-schaft des Landes, verhängte Reisebeschränkungen für die Rebellen und ließ deren Konten einfrieren. Analys...

Since the end of the Cold War, Western powers have frequently used sanctions as a reaction to declining levels of democracy and human rights violations in authoritarian regimes. However, some of the world’s most repressive authoritarian regimes have never been subjected to sanctions, while other more competitive autocracies have been exposed to rep...

Auf dem 53. ANC-Parteitag Ende Dezember 2012 gelang es dem Präsidenten Südafri-kas, Jacob Zuma, die zerstrittene Organisation vorerst zu befrieden und den wirtschafts-freundlichen Cyril Ramaphosa als stellvertretenden Parteivorsitzenden zu installieren. Analyse Der regierende African National Congress (ANC) ist gefangen im Selbstverständnis der Bef...

Neopatrimonialism is a concept that has predominately been applied to describe governance in sub‐Saharan Africa. Recently, though, it has also been used to describe states from other world regions. However, scholars have rarely attempted to systematically compare neopatrimonial rule in different regional settings. This paper aims to narrow this gap...

Nach massiven öffentlichen Protesten mit der Forderung "Rühr meine Verfassung nicht an!" hat der senegalesische Staatspräsident Abdoulaye Wade am 23. Juni 2011 ein Ge-setz zur Änderung der Verfassung zurückgezogen, das die Wahl von Präsidentschafts-kandidaten schon im ersten Wahlgang erleichtern sollte. Die politischen Spannungen im Senegal halten...

Auf ihrem Parteitag vom 6.-10. Dezember 2011 bestätigte Simbabwes Regierungspartei ZANU-PF Robert Mugabe, der das Land seit 31 Jahren regiert, als Spitzenkandidaten für die kommenden Präsidentschaftswahlen. Analyse Die ZANU-PF setzt damit weiter alles auf den 87-jährigen Mugabe – ein Nachfolger oder eine Nachfolgerin ist nicht in Sicht und die Refo...

Neopatrimonialism is a concept that has predominately been applied to describe governance in sub‐Saharan Africa. Recently, though, it has also been used to describe states from other world regions. However, scholars have rarely attempted to systematically compare neopatrimonial rule in different regional settings. This paper aims to narrow this gap...

The aim of this background paper is a modest one. It tries to establish in which areas consen- sus can be found in the application of the concept of neopatrimonialism. Also, it outlines the concept's limits and - more generally - puts forward some suggestions for using the concept in the following six areas: (1) Basic definition, (2) delimitation o...

Eine Reihe von Regimen wie Iran, Kuba, Myanmar oder Nordkorea ist seit langem von den USA, der EU oder den Vereinten Nationen mit Sanktionen belegt. Diese unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich ihrer Ziele und darin, ob sie „umfassend“ oder „zielgerichtet“ sind. Eines haben die Sanktionen jedoch gemeinsam: Sie sollen eine Änderung des politischen Verhalte...

Botswana has been dubbed an “African miracle.” The country has been praised not only for maintaining a multiparty system and high growth rates since independence but also for its good governance record. In contrast to other African countries, the extent of neopatrimonialism, which runs counter to good governance, is said to be low. This article aim...

The generation of income through tax administration is of central importance for viable statehood as it serves as the basis for all other state functions (e.g., security, public welfare). However, it is precisely this capability to raise revenue which has been a fundamental deficit of African states. More than 50 percent of the tax potential remain...

The paper introduces the main facets of the research project “persistence and change of neopatrimonialism in various non-OECD-regions”. Neopatrimonialism is a prominent concept trying to make sense of governance in various, particularly non-OECD, regions. An attempt is made to grasp informal institutions which are functioning next to or are fused w...

The concept of “structural stability” has been gaining prominence in development policy circles. In the EU’s and the OECD Development Assistance Committee’s (OECD DAC) understanding, it describes the ability of societies to handle intra-societal conflict without resorting to violence. This study investigates the preconditions of structural stabilit...

The present article illustrates how the main actors in global health governance (GHG)— governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), intergovernmental organizations (IOs), and transnational pharmaceutical companies (TNPCs)—have been interacting and, as a result, modifying the global health architecture in general and AIDS treatment in particul...

Am 1. Februar wurde der Außenminister Gabuns, Jean Ping, zum neuen Kommissionsvorsitzenden der Afrikanischen Union (AU) gewählt. Die Anforderungen an ihn sind beträchtlich: Er soll die regionale Integration des Kontinents vorantreiben, während sich gleichzeitig die ökonomische Spaltung zwischen den Regionalorganisationen Afrikas zu vertiefen droht....

Anfang August der Militärputsch in Mauretanien, die anhaltende Krise in Simbabwe und das Verhalten des Baschir-Regimes im sudanesischen Darfur – nur einige Beispiele, die nahe zu legen scheinen, dass autoritäre Regime in Afrika wieder an Boden gewinnen. Ist auf dem Kontinent eine Renaissance autoritärer Herrschaft zu erwarten – möglicherwei-se unte...

Tax administration reforms are of prime importance for strengthening fiscal state and governance relations in developing countries. African countries have been particularly deficient in this respect. Donor support for tax administration reform in Africa therefore might have a strong impact in enhancing the developing prospects of the continent. Thi...

Following the neopatrimonialism paradigm, it can be hypothesised that in African states informal politics of the rulers infringe on the collection of taxes and in turn reduce state revenue. This article tests this proposition for the case of Zambia. Neopatrimonial continuity in the country is evidenced by three factors: the concentration of politic...

The worldwide diffusion of the good governance agenda and new public management has triggered a renewed focus on state capability and, more specifically, on the capability to raise revenue in developing countries. However, the analytical tools for a comprehensive understanding of the capability to raise revenue remain underdeveloped. This article a...

This chapter endeavours to analyse the contentious relationship between actors of the global and national level of global health governance (GHG) in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The case study deals predominantly with vertical relationships between actors on the national and global level, i.e. vertical interfaces (see Chapter 1). Des...

This paper endeavours to analyse the relationship between Global Health Governance and national health politics in the case of HIV/AIDS. The paper compares Brazil and South Africa as two cases in which the relationship between national politics and GHG has been structured in contrasting ways, ranging from conflict to cooperation. Different reciproc...

Following the neopatrimonialism paradigm, it can be hypothesised that in African states informal politics of the rulers infringe on the collection of taxes and in turn reduce state revenues. This article tests this proposition for the case of Zambia. The main finding is that there is no linear correlation between a neopatrimonial system and the col...

The worldwide diffusion of the good governance agenda and new public management has triggered a renewed focus on state capability and, more specifically, on the capability to raise revenue in developing countries. However, the analytical tools for a comprehensive understanding of the capability to raise revenue remain underdeveloped. This article a...

The paper introduces the main facets of the research project "persistence and change of neopatrimonialism in various non-OECD-regions". Neopatrimonialism is a prominent concept trying to make sense of governance in various, particularly non-OECD, regions. An attempt is made to grasp informal institutions which are functioning next to or are fused w...