Introduction

This introduction exposes the heterogeneity of authoritarian regimes, also referred to as dictatorships or autocracies. This work singles out one specific regime type – personalist rule. Personalism is actually a characteristic that is present in most dictatorships, and once it consolidates this changes regime behavior significantly. Unlike other types, established personalist regimes seldom transition into democracies, and usually have violent breakdowns. This book studies their transition by aid of a new middle-range systemic model that analyzes the direct and indirect impact they exert on their states, societies and development. The structure of the book encompasses five dimensions of such systemic models: relational, functional, dysfunctional, organizational and normative aspects. Chapter 1 describes personalism and presents the research questions. Chapter 2 models personalist regime behavior. Chapter 3 covers its impact, presenting the full model and its hypotheses. Chapters 4–6 present the most relevant case studies to capture the relational, functional and dysfunctional aspects of the framework, testing the hypotheses for eight case studies. Chapters 7 and 8 summarize the findings and cover the organizational and normative aspects of the model. They integrate the insights from 15 Sub Saharan case studies and map possible transition scenarios. The final chapter applies the model to other world regions to expose regional variation and hybrid personalist regimes.