ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that anocracies share much in common with autocracies. The two political systems exhibit similar patterns of political instability and conflict behavior, though anocracies are more prone to internal war. Most anocracies are former autocracies, and transitions involving anocracies and autocracies occur far more frequently than those involving democracies. The chapter offers some trends in the distribution of political systems worldwide. Democratization is on the rise. The number of democracies in the world has steadily increased since the post-World War II period, including a dramatic spike in the early 1990s following the end of the Cold War. Democratically elected leaders govern more than half of the world's states. The chapter explores how anocracies compare with other systems, as well as how they come into being and fall. It looks at how anocracies compare with autocracies and democracies in the likelihood that they will undergo conflict and political instability.
