Substate Dictatorship: Networks, Loyalty, and Institutional Change in the Soviet Union 

by Yoram Gorlizki & Oleg Khlevniuk

An essential exploration of how authoritarian regimes operate at the local level
 
How do local leaders govern in a large dictatorship? What resources do they draw on? Building on recent innovations in the theory of dictatorship, Yoram Gorlizki and Oleg Khlevniuk examine these questions by looking at one of the most important authoritarian regimes of the twentieth century. They show how Soviet regional leaders, lacking Stalin’s direct access to the means of repression, resorted to alternative strategies—especially through political exclusion and control of information—to build the local networks they needed to rule.

Interview with the Author

New Books Network 
Y. Gorlizki and O. Khlevniuk, “Substate Dictatorship Networks, Loyalty, and Institional Change in the Soviet Untion” (Yale UP, 2020)
11/2/20           55 min

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