Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/96078 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2012-10
Publisher: 
Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics, Ramat-Gan
Abstract: 
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of geography on the transition process in authoritarian political regimes, and to investigate the nature of the links between political change, economic reforms and geographic location. A simple model of transition and democratization is presented wherein we show that the effectiveness of repression by the incumbent elite is a negative function of the distance to the free world. In consequence, there are conflicting effects of geography on political power shifting. The paper provides a rationale for the counterintuitive fact that the first authoritarian country to start a transition process towards democratization is not necessarily the one nearest to the free world.
Subjects: 
conflicts
democratization
elites
geography
repression
transition process
JEL: 
D74
P26
P36
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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