The boot and the vote: Understanding authoritarianism from the elections

Abstract

Authoritarianism –as a political expression of a concentrated, arbitrary and repressive power– and elections –as arena and process of citizen selection of the rulers– seem to be located in the antipodes. However, the autocratic manipulation of the elections offers, simultaneously, a ground for the understanding of the despotic dynamics and (limited) manifestation of population dissent regarding their present and future rulers. Autocratic regimes such as Cuba and Russia, in their electoral manipulation, are examples of historical cases, institutional models where the political agents of dictatorships interact and expressions of citizen disaffection.