Replication Data for "Elections in Nondemocratic Settings: When and Why Do They Help Regime Survival?"

Elections in nondemocratic settings are expected to play a regime sustaining role and a regime subverting role. Recent research finds that these two seemingly competing views are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary with each other. This is the case because the regime subverting role of elections is at work in the short run, whereas the regime sustaining role operates in the long term. In this paper, I argue that these effects are conditional on the nature of competition in those elections. Specifically, I contend that these effects that derive from the informational role of elections do not emerge when opposition forces boycott the elections. Using data on 262 nondemocratic regimes in 116 countries from 1946 to 2007, I provide the evidence that renders support for my argument. This paper suggests a need to further scrutinize the nature and quality of elections when assessing their impact on the survival of nondemocratic regimes.

非民主政权（nondemocratic regimes）语境下的选举，历来被认为兼具政权维系与政权颠覆的双重作用。近期研究表明，这两种看似对立的观点并非互斥，而是互为补充。究其根源，选举的政权颠覆作用往往在短期内发挥效力，而政权维系作用则在长期维度中持续运行。本文提出，上述两类效应的显现取决于此类选举中的竞争性质。具体而言，由选举的信息功能所衍生的上述效应，在反对势力抵制选举的情况下不会显现。本文基于1946年至2007年间116个国家的262个非民主政权数据，为本文的核心论点提供了实证支撑。本文同时提出，在评估选举对非民主政权存续的影响时，有必要进一步审视选举的性质与质量。