ABSTRACT
A decrepit authoritarian regime, in an attempt to carry out some pressing social reforms and enlist the necessary support of the society at large, establishes representative institutions, - initially with limited authority and under its own close control. Convocation of a representative assembly precipitates an institutional conflict between the executive organs of the old regime and the newly established representative body. The representative body is bound to win the first round of this conflict for its struggle against the old regime is supported by the society at large. After the victory the parliament naturally becomes the principal recruitment base for the new executive. The institutional confrontation enters its second round, in which the parliament, weakened by the "desertion" of its "best people" to the executive and no longer enjoying the kind of mass support it could count on in its struggle against the old regime, falls easy prey to the new executive.
