ABSTRACT
The dominant-party regimes explored in this volume differ widely in terms of the way they relate to state and society, but for much of their histories, most of them have been characterized by complex combinations of autocracy and political inclusion. With the current exception of the leaders of South Africa’s ANC, the rulers of these countries have, at least in the past, used the coercive and financial resources of the state to limit serious electoral challenges to their political power. Even during their authoritarian periods, however, the dominant-party regimes of Mexico, Taiwan, and Malaysia also extended representation to a variety of competing groups, both within and outside the framework of the ruling party itself. This “limited pluralism”, as Juan Linz argued several decades ago, is among the features which distinguish “authoritarian regimes” from the “totalitarian” party-states that once dominated many Communist societies.1
