The Journal of Comparative Politics

Welcome to the Journal of Comparative Politics

Comparative Politics, an international journal presenting scholarly articles devoted to the comparative analysis of political institutions and processes,communicates new ideas and research findings to social scientists, scholars, students, and public and NGO officials. The journal is indispensable to experts in universities, research organizations, foundations, embassies, and policymaking agencies throughout the world.

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A New Era of Editorial Leadership at Comparative Politics

With the first issue of the 58th volume of Comparative Politics, we mark a change in the guard of the leadership of the journal. After more than 45 years of service as members of the editorial committee at Comparative Politics and after 30 years of service as the journal’s Editors-in-Chief, Professors Kenneth Paul Erickson and Irving Leonard Markovitz are stepping down. Both Ken and Lenny, as we know them, have shown extraordinary dedication to the journal and, more generally, to the field of comparative politics. They have modeled integrity, collegiality, hard work, and a commitment to excellence. They have kept the journal strong. Thanks to their leadership, CP is ranked as Q1 among all Political Science journals, while remaining among a handful of independent publications in the industry. We are so grateful to them.

With the approval of the editorial committee, Professors Erickson and Markovitz have passed the baton to Professors Eva Bellin and Nicholas Rush Smith who will now assume the role of Editors-in-Chief. Both Bellin and Smith are committed to making the journal the strongest it can be – a platform for path-breaking research in comparative politics, open to all methods. But we are especially committed to sustaining the journal’s long-standing role as an outlet for excellent qualitative research that explores ambitious theoretical questions in politics, whether that research be rooted in comparative historical analysis, small-n analysis, process tracing, in-depth interviews, or ethnographic field work. We are also dedicated to being a journal that fosters emerging scholars by providing a quick initial decision, high-quality feedback on papers sent out for review, and fair consideration of work submitted by all scholars regardless of their academic rank or institution. Professors Erickson and Markovitz helped launch the publishing careers of many scholars in the discipline and we hope to carry on that legacy. This will be our tribute to our exemplars, Ken and Lenny.

Welcome to the Journal of Comparative Politicsjmcorby2025-10-03T16:59:52+00:00

Volume 58, Number 4, July 2026

Eduardo Silva and Zaraí Toledo Orozco, Beyond Implementation: Policy Durability and Social Movements in Extractive Conflicts

Research on social movements has illuminated when and how they influence policy formulation, but less is known about what shapes the durability of those policies once adopted. Why do some victories endure while others erode? Drawing on the process-tracing of seventeen movements around mining conflicts in Ecuador and Peru during the 2000s commodity boom, we argue that post-adoption politics are critical. Policy durability requires movements to sustain pressure both from civil society and the state. Beyond sustained mobilization power, durable full gains hinge on two strategic objectives: leveraging a decision point in regulatory agencies and securing a favorable ruling from a higher-level authority such as the presidency or high courts. Movements achieving only the former attain temporary partial gains; lacking both leads to defeat.

Rachel A. Schwartz, International Anti-Corruption Commissions: Explaining Institutional Design and Autonomy

Political corruption is a leading governance challenge, yet governments often lack the will to tackle it and may use anti-corruption to undermine democracy. This dilemma has given rise to international anti-corruption commissions (IACCs), which rely on partnerships between international experts and domestic personnel. Why are some IACCs granted independence, while others are politically subordinate? Focusing on northern Central America, this article argues that where coalitions comprised of government insiders and domestic activists maintain a seat at the negotiating table, they use their agenda-setting capacities, expertise, and ability to raise the audience costs of incumbent maneuvers to dilute anti-corruption to ensure greater IACC independence. Additionally, struggles over IACC autonomy are influenced by transnational dynamics, as political leaders learn from one another how to limit anti-corruption enforcement.

Ayelén Vanegas, Dynamic Preferences for Redistribution: Understanding Welfare Support in Argentina

Why can support for cash transfers decrease among beneficiaries when poverty is growing? This article argues that support for redistributive policies is dynamic and shaped by citizens’ evaluations of policy results. When beneficiaries feel cash transfers help them cope with hardship, support can increase. However, if recipients perceive these policies as insufficient in offsetting their economic situation, they may view them as ineffective in consistently alleviating poverty. Consequently, recipients may oppose expanding cash transfers while continuing to support deeper redistributive policies—such as education and job-training programs—that offer long-term economic improvement. Using a multi-method design that combines weighted difference-in-differences estimations, machine learning models, focus groups, and a novel face-to-face survey in Argentina, the findings show how preferences for redistribution can change in different contexts.

Phillip M. Ayoub and Sam Whitt, Silence or Solidarity? The Political Pitfalls of an LGBTQI Avoidance Strategy in Hungary

Amid rising illiberal anti-LGBTQI backlash, some opposition politicians fear that resisting it is a political trap that could jeopardize their electoral fortunes. We evaluate this concern in Hungary, where Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz government passed a law banning Pride marches. The leading opposition figure, Péter Magyar of Tisza, initially avoided opposing the law, ostensibly to protect his party’s future electoral prospects. In a May 2025 survey experiment, we find that this “avoidance” strategy reduces Magyar’s approval while failing to increase support for his party. Theoretically, we conceptualize a value-credibility cost mechanism through which elite silence diminishes moral authority, cedes issue ownership, and weakens support for LGBTQI rights. Our results, buttressed by interviews with LGBTQI organizers, contribute to a literature on the costs and benefits of minority rights inclusion in electoral strategy.

Marcus Johnson, Review Article, Reassessing Colonial Origins: A Decolonial Review of Four Books on Global Inequality

The colonial origins of development paradigm have generated important explanations for unequal development in the Global South. Through a review of four recently published books, I critique the colonial origins framework to highlight its limitations. I first critique the colonial origins paradigm for its empirical focus on variation among formerly colonized countries, which obscures the large-scale and enduring inequalities between states in the Global South and the Global North. Secondly, I critique the colonial logic of “development,” which centers the epistemic and material dominance of the Global North and marginalizes the ways of knowing and social organization of indigenous and internally colonized subjects. I conclude by discussing the implications of these critiques for how we understand global inequality and alternative solutions articulated from the Global South.

Volume 58, Number 4, July 2026jmcorby2026-06-27T13:34:04+00:00

Volume 58, Number 3, April 2026

Adam Almqvist, GONGOs, Zombies, and Astroturfers: Rethinking Hybrid Institutions in Autocracies through the Case of Jordanian Youth Governance

Autocracies have increasingly begun to clothe themselves in the guise of hybrid, semi-official institutions that exhibit a degree of autonomy from the state, such as Government-Organized NGOs (GONGOs), “zombie” election observers, regime-run think tanks, astroturfing, or semi-official state-mobilized movements (SMMs). Existing literature has analyzed hybrid institutions as products of their functions. Instead, by employing a historical-institutional analysis of the evolution of Jordanian youth GONGOs, I demonstrate that institutional hybridity often arises from institutional contradictions, particularly between the path dependence (vested interests, inertia, and inflexibility) of existing institutions and shifting regime objectives, which drive autocrats to establish parallel hybrid institutions to perform the job existing institutions cannot. These findings bridge scholarship on historical institutionalism and authoritarian institutions by emphasizing the centrality of contradictions in institutional change.

Benedikt Bender, Katharina Bluhm, Stanislav Klimovich, Sabine Kropp, Ulla Pape, and Claudius Wagemann, Why Are State-Business Relations Formalized in Russia’s Authoritarian Regime? A Set-Theoretic Analysis

Despite the predominance of informality in Russian state-business relations (SBRs), regional administrations have established diverse institutionalized forms of cooperation with business actors. These include socio-economic development agreements, public-private partnerships, and consultation mechanisms. Utilizing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study systematically examines SBRs across all of Russia’s federal subjects, identifying varying degrees of institutionalization. The findings reveal that strongly institutionalized SBRs, found in fifty-nine out of eighty-three regions, result from four distinct configurations: a monopolistic economy, hegemonic authoritarian politics, personalist politics, and competitive authoritarian politics. The analysis demonstrates that institutionalized SBRs are beneficial for both business and state actors. It offers valuable insights into the rationale behind the formation of formal cooperation between state and businesses, thereby addressing key questions in comparative research on authoritarianism.

Olena Nikolayenko, Emotional Contagion and Labor Mobilization in an Autocracy

Labor unrest has become a salient feature of contentious politics around the globe. Yet, scholars disagree over the determinants of labor’s rise against the ruling elite in non-democracies. This article argues that emotional contagion explains a short-term spike in labor mobilization. Drawing on empirical evidence from Belarus, one of the most repressive political regimes in contemporary Europe, the study provides support for the argument. Utilizing original data from in-depth interviews with labor activists and industrial workers, empirical analysis demonstrates that a shared sense of outrage over the scale of police violence, along with the magnitude of electoral malpractices and the government’s neglect of citizens’ needs during a public health crisis, was a major catalyst for labor mobilization in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

Sanghoon Kim-Leffingwell and Yujeong Yang, Violence and Bias: The Political Legacy of Anti-Chinese Violence in Indonesia

Studies have discussed long-term effects of state-led violence on victims’ political attitudes and behaviors, but less is known about its impacts on those who sided with the perpetrators. We develop a theory of authoritarian indoctrination and cognitive dissonance that explains variation in outgroup intolerance among the majority group, focusing on the ethnic violence against Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority. Drawing upon unique survey data, we find that proximity to anti-Chinese violence in 1996–1999 correlates with elevated outgroup animosity today, particularly among individuals who grew up during the autocratic era. We further demonstrate that such bias extends to political behavior, leading to support for right-wing politicians instigating outgroup prejudice. Findings highlight historical legacies of authoritarian-led ethnic violence as a source of political intolerance.

Ajay Verghese, Review Article: The Qualitative Metamorphosis

For a long time, qualitative scholars found it hard not to talk about KKV. Designing Social Inquiry and its authors Gary (K)ing, Robert (K)eohane, and Sidney (V)erba galvanized an earlier generation of qualitative methodologists to write a number of important rejoinders contesting the meanings of terms and defending the very use of these methods. The authors of Doing Good Qualitative Research, Qualitative Literacy, and Integrated Inferences represent a new generation, one that has eschewed the shopworn debates of the past and is interested solely in developing and improving qualitative methods. These books constitute part of a larger and ongoing qualitative metamorphosis: the emergence of a new qualitative methodology that is more confident, inclusive, and one that is no longer willing to play by quantitative rules.

Volume 58, Number 3, April 2026jmcorby2026-03-20T16:19:29+00:00

Volume 58, Number 2, January 2026

Alexander De Juan and Julian Voß, Transitional Justice and Support for Policies of Remembrance after Mass Violence

Prior research suggests that punitive transitional justice (TJ) may foster a sense of collective exoneration among perpetrator groups, potentially reducing support for remembrance of in-group atrocities in the long term. We test this potential “hidden cost’’ of TJ in Germany using a vignette experiment manipulating perceptions of the extent of denazification and an observational analysis exploiting variation in denazification intensity across occupation zones. We find that while perceptions of comprehensive Nazi accountability foster beliefs that the German in-group was fully held responsible, these perceptions do not affect support for commemoration or responsibility toward victims. These results contribute to the broader literature on TJ’s long-term attitudinal impacts and the determinants of support for historical remembrance, emphasizing the enduring importance of moral over legal perceptions of accountability.

Sibo Liu, Shouzhi Xia, and Dong Zhang, From Maoism to MAGA: Embracing Democracy with Authoritarian Imprints

Right-wing populism, notably Trumpism, has presented a formidable challenge to democracy. We explore the historical roots of Trumpism among the Chinese diaspora by analyzing nearly one million tweets from approximately 200 Chinese overseas opinion leaders between 2019 and early 2021. We develop a novel measure of authoritarian imprints, drawing on the usage of high-frequency words from the political discourse of China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Leveraging computational text analysis, we identify both pro-Trump and anti-democratic stances in these tweets. Our analysis reveals that Chinese opinion leaders with strong authoritarian imprints are significantly more likely to support Trump and endorse anti-democratic actions, such as rejecting the 2020 presidential election result and advocating for unconstitutional means to overturn the result.

Huseyin Emre Ceyhun, Restive Regions: Sequential Complementarity of Repression and Cooptation in Authoritarian Survival

Under what conditions can repression, generally assumed to induce obedience through violence, consolidate authoritarian power in a non-violent way? I propose a novel theory of the effects of repression, accounting for regional heterogeneity of state capacity. Failed centralization efforts during state-building processes lead to the emergence of strong local power structures, fostering persistent resistance against autocratic cooptation strategies. Repression in such “restive” regions has downstream effects that complement autocrats’ cooptation policies by increasing the state’s extractive and informational capacities. To test these predictions, I leverage a legal change resulted in the replacement of pro-Kurdish mayors with government-appointed trustees in Turkey’s restive regions. Adopting two-way-fixed-effects models, I demonstrate evidence supporting my theory. This article provides an alternative view about how repression generates favorable outcomes for autocrats.

Ling S. Chen, Xiuyu Li, and Kellee S. Tsai, Research Note, Pathways to Authoritarian Capitalism

The global emergence of authoritarian capitalism warrants analysis of its features, economic pathways, and class basis. We argue that the timing of capitalism’s establishment relative to authoritarianism affects the extent of state capture by business and the regime’s stance towards labor. When capitalism preceded authoritarianism, autocracy arose from a “crisis of capitalism” in flawed democracies, either from fear of communist redistribution or backlash against neoliberalism in post-communist countries. These governments appealed to business and labor interests for electoral survival. Conversely, when authoritarianism preceded capitalism, late industrializing states with weak business and working classes pursued developmental agendas by exercising autonomy over capital and repressing labor. Understanding these historical pathways to authoritarian capitalism provides insight on contemporary democratic backsliding and right-wing populism in the U.S. and Europe.

Tristan Klingelhöfer, Review Article, Recasting the Meaning of Elections: Three Strikes for the Mandate Interpretation in Europe

How are we to interpret the rising popularity of right-wing populist and outright authoritarian parties in European democracies? Commonly, elections are seen as handing a mandate to their winners. So, are such forces increasingly receiving a mandate from voters to carry out their policies? This article reviews three recent books (Authoritarianism and the Evolution of West European Electoral Politics by Erik R. Tillman, Democracy Erodes from the Top by Larry M. Bartels, and Voters under Pressure by Ruth Dassonneville) and argues that the mandate interpretation strikes out. These books illustrate how politicians shape “mandates,” how “mandates” can be ignored by those in power, and how the party system and the electorate are not structured (anymore) in a way to allow for genuine mandates to emerge.

Volume 58, Number 2, January 2026jmcorby2025-12-13T11:50:36+00:00

Volume 58, Number 1, October 2025

Michael Weintraub, Abbey Steele, and Sebastián Pantoja-Barrios, The Bureaucracy of Reparations and Political Engagement

Countries transitioning from civil war and authoritarian legacies often adopt transitional justice measures like reparations, prosecutions, and truth commissions. The success of these efforts depends, in part, on interactions with victims. We propose a framework linking victims’ engagement with reparations programs to political participation. We then use panel survey data from over 12,000 respondents in conflict-affected regions of Colombia to show that those who engage with transitional justice institutions are more likely to contact local leaders or politicians and join grassroots organizations. Mediation analysis reveals that while victimization drives much of this engagement, interactions with reparations programs independently increase contacting leaders and voting. Our findings have important implications for transitional justice, peacebuilding, and democratic participation.

Kai M. Thaler, From Insurgent to Incumbent: Ideology, Rebel Governance, and Statebuilding after Rebel Victory in Civil Wars

Why do some victorious rebels invest in statebuilding and public goods, while others prioritize private enrichment? I theorize that post-victory governance is rooted in rebels’ pre-victory ideologies, distinguishing between rebels’ ideologies on two dimensions: how much they aim to transform society (programmatic or opportunistic) and the proportion of the population they wish to benefit (inclusive or exclusive). Programmatic transformation and delivering inclusive benefits require building infrastructural power and expanding state reach, while opportunistic use of power for exclusive, private gains does not necessitate non-coercive power. Fieldwork-based case studies of three victorious rebel organizations—the more programmatic-inclusive FSLN in Nicaragua, the more opportunistic-exclusive NPFL in Liberia, and the middle-ground NRM in Uganda—provide support for the theory, and the conclusion addresses implications for scholarship and policy.

Kelly Stedem, What State? Political Parties and Non-State Security Provision in Lebanon

Security is the canonical public good provided by the state to its citizens. Yet, many states are incapable or unwilling to provide security in a consistent fashion across their territory. The provision of security, order, and management of crime is a crucial “good” that parties can and do offer their constituents, resulting in widespread variation in security at the neighborhood level. What explains this variation in the provision of security and local policing by political parties? Drawing on 132 semi-structured interviews conducted during eight months of fieldwork in Lebanon, this study suggests that organizational capacity is one determinant of whether political parties step into the role of security providers. It shows that maintaining robust linkages with constituent communities and party members at the local level are necessary to coordinating security measures.

Sasha de Vogel, Hannah S. Chapman, and Lauren A. McCarthy, Authoritarian Information Gathering amid Crisis

How do crises affect information gathering in authoritarian regimes? This study examines how crises impact appeal systems’ ability to collect information on everyday and crisis-related concerns. We argue that crisis immediacy and government repression shape the number and topic of appeals received. Utilizing a novel dataset of appeals submitted to Russia’s Presidential Administration, we analyze four crises: the 2018 pension reform, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent partial military mobilization. High-immediacy crises generate more crisis-related appeals, while repression suppresses everyday appeals on routine governance issues. This study contributes to scholarship on informational autocracies by highlighting the vulnerability of information-gathering institutions. Focusing on citizen behavior rather than regime incentives, we offer insights into how individuals utilize appeals systems under crisis conditions, enriching understanding of state-society dynamics and the limitations of consultative institutions in autocratic contexts.

Benjamin Abrams, Review Article, A Revolution in Revolutionary Theory?

Recently, the field of revolutionary theory has seen a flourishing of novel scholarly efforts that constitute a genuine regeneration of how we conceive of, investigate, and interpret revolutions. The first elements of this regeneration of revolutionary theory have now found their way to print, and the scene is set for a prospective revolution in our field. This article surveys the history of revolutionary theory since 1883, establishes the scope and contribution of the field’s present rejuvenation, and charts the place of these developments in the field’s broader path, before closing by exploring what may be in store for students of revolution in the future. In doing so, the article draws attention to three areas of current rejuvenation: latent patterns of revolution; long revolutionary outcomes; and revolutionary ideas. Moreover, it proposes three areas for fruitful new research: revolutionary programs, revolutions as political systems, and the dynamics occurring within “the fog of revolution.”

Volume 58, Number 1, October 2025jmcorby2025-10-03T16:53:38+00:00

Volume 57, Number 4, July 2025

Camilla Reuterswärd, Policy Commitment as Voter Mobilization Strategy: Clientelist Parties, Interest Groups, and Abortion Policy in Subnational Mexico

Existing research contends that clientelist parties seek alternative voter mobilization strategies when material exchanges no longer guarantee office. This article argues that engaging in strategic interactions with influential interest groups constitutes an alternative way to mobilize support. Pressured by competition, clientelist parties align policy with interest group preferences and obtain support from members and followers in return. Using a comparative subnational design and primary data, I show how Mexico’s PRI passed a restrictive abortion amendment to obtain clergy support in Yucatán but abstained from reform in Hidalgo where it faced similar competition but perceived clergy as unable to bolster votes. The findings shed light on clientelist parties’ voter mobilization strategies and the policy effects of interest group interactions in new democracies and other developing contexts.

Sebastian Diessner, Niccolo Durazzi, and David Hope, Embedding Skill Bias: Technology, Institutions, and Inequality in Wages and Benefits

Is rising inequality an inevitable consequence of the transition to a knowledge-based economy? Departing from existing approaches in labor economics and comparative political economy, we develop an account of inequality in the knowledge economy that foregrounds the role of labor market institutions. We argue that collective bargaining institutions play a critical role in mediating the skill bias commonly associated with the diffusion of information and communications technologies (ICT), because they determine whether employers have the discretion to selectively reward strategically important high-skilled workers with greater wages and benefits. We then test our argument by carrying out cross-country analyses of both wage premia and non-wage benefits in the OECD countries. We find robust evidence in support of our theoretical propositions across a range of model specifications.

Juan J. Fernández, Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo, and Berta Caihuelas Navajas, The Socio-Structural Basis of the Long-Term Decline in Traditional Left-Right Class Voting in Affluent Democracies, 1964–2019

How can we explain the long-term decline in the class-based voting cleavage observed in high-income democracies since the 1960s? The causes of this decline are far from being fully understood. We hypothesize that the decline in this cleavage between the working class and other classes is connected to the shrinkage of the working class, increases in economic prosperity, and a reduction in levels of inequality. To test these hypotheses, we use a newly-assembled dataset including sixteen advanced democracies with a long temporal coverage (1964–2019) and a class voting index based on the difference between the proportion of a particular social class in a party’s electorate and the proportion of this social class in the electorate as a whole. Models using country fixed effects confirm a decline in the class-based voting cleavage across Western democracies. Controlling for several political variables, the size of the working class constitutes the best predictor of declines in class voting in affluent democracies.

Neil Loughlin, Is Chinese Investment Driving Authoritarianism? Evidence from the First Decade of the Belt and Road in Southeast Asia

This article investigates the impact of Chinese investment on authoritarianism through the lens of authoritarian linkage, focusing on the first decade of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia and Malaysia. While both countries were electoral autocracies when the BRI was launched in 2013, their regime trajectories diverged. In Cambodia, Chinese investment reinforced elite patronage networks and coercive state-society relations, stabilizing the regime during political unrest. Conversely, in Malaysia, it contributed to the collapse of the long-ruling authoritarian coalition by exacerbating elite fragmentation and popular discontent over corruption, which has led to greater political competition. These findings demonstrate how domestic political economy dynamics mediate the effects of Chinese investment, revealing its variable influence on regime outcomes.

Yang Yan and Zhusong Yang, Portraying Competence, Benevolence, or Party Loyalty? Political Propaganda and the Image-Building of Political Elites in China

How do political elites in authoritarian regimes shape their public image? Drawing on a unique dataset covering official news releases of the daily public activities of all provincial party secretaries in China from 2016 to 2022, this study finds that authoritarian elites manipulate the propaganda apparatus to project various public images. Text analysis shows that provincial leaders employ a variety of themes and narratives to highlight their activities, resulting in four types of images: competence-oriented, benevolence-oriented, party-loyalty-oriented, and versatile. Case studies reveal how the configuration of conditions, such as the official’s age, professional background, political connections with the top leader, and the socioeconomic characteristics of their province, relate to their image-building strategies. The findings, which are supported by methods including topic modeling, machine learning, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, contribute to the literature on political propaganda by emphasizing the diversity of public images among senior political elites in non-democratic systems.

Omar Báez and Kent Eaton, Recentralization in Mexico: Reconfiguring the Center in Intergovernmental Relations

Understanding recentralization as a vertical phenomenon requires careful attention to the horizontal distribution of power at the national level. We articulate a theoretical argument that emphasizes the content of the coalition that enacts recentralization, demonstrating that politicians can return power to the center without empowering the president. In Mexico, the pluralism of the coalition that pushed for recentralization from 2007 to 2018 led to institutional designs that avoided investing authority in the presidency and opted instead to empower a series of autonomous constitutional bodies. The Mexican case thus points to a simple but powerful hypothesis to add to the literature on multilevel governance: the broader that coalitions that push for recentralization, the wider the set of actors who will be empowered at the center of the political system.

Volume 57, Number 4, July 2025jmcorby2025-12-13T11:52:05+00:00

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