What happens to dictators when dictatorship ends? Who can punish them and how?

Authors

  • ABEL ESCRIBÀ-FOLCH

Keywords:

Dictators, punishment, opposition, exile, execution.

Abstract

This article analyses from a comparative point of view the fate of dictators once they have lost or given power up, in other words, it seeks to explain under what conditions it is possible to punish outgoing rulers and under which ones dictators can exile or remain unpunished in their countries. To do so, we depart from a simple game-theoretic model through which we stress that there are two main factors that explain rulers’ fate: The relative strength of the opposition and the international context. New data for the period 1945-2000 on dictators’ mode of exiting power and post-power fate have allowed us to put our hypotheses under empirical scrutiny.

Published

2008-06-11

Issue

Section

ARTICLES