ABSTRACT
The chapter relies on quantitative data of all authoritarian regimes from 1960–2006 to test how administrative and coercive state capacity affects the relationship between authoritarian multi-party elections and regime breakdown. Using tax extraction data to proxy administrative capacity, the chapter finds support for the argument that administrative capacity conditions the effect of elections: where administrative capacity is high, elections stabilize authoritarian rule. Where it is low, elections correlate with regime breakdown. However, the data on military expenditure and personnel offer no evidence that an autocrat’s coercive capacity alters the effect of elections.
