Legitimacy and Institutions in Personalized Authoritarian Regimes

Author: Nicholas McKeon

Field of Study: Arts and Humanities

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Matthew Cole

Easel: 40

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: This research focuses on the area of how modern autocratic regimes legitimize themselves using existing social and governing institutions. Using inductive reasoning, this work will perform an examination of the Russian post-Soviet transition towards authoritarianism with Putin’s rise to power as a consideration of modern personalist autocracies and their relationship to independent societal institutions. Contemporary regime analysis indicates a trend towards increased personalized regime support at the expense of civil structures and general welfare. This is indicative of the realization of legitimacy through the ascendency of personal governing networks, thereby gutting legitimate institutions of power. This contributes to the larger discussion regarding the public support and stability enjoyed by dictatorial regimes and how the transition toward such governments is paved with civil erosion.