Boundary Control Subnational Authoritarianism in Federal Democracies Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics Series

The democratization of a national government is only a first step in diffusing democracy throughout a country's territory. Even after a national government is democratized, subnational authoritarian 'enclaves' often continue to deny rights to citizens of local jurisdictions. Gibson offers new theoretical perspectives for the study of democratization in his exploration of this phenomenon. His theory of 'boundary control' captures the conflict pattern between incumbents and oppositions when a national democratic government exists alongside authoritarian provinces (or 'states'). He also reveals how federalism and the territorial organization of countries shape how subnational authoritarian regimes are built and how they unravel. Through a novel comparison of the late nineteenth-century American 'Solid South' with contemporary experiences in Argentina and Mexico, Gibson reveals that the mechanisms of boundary control are reproduced across countries and historical periods. As long as subnational authoritarian governments coexist with national democratic governments, boundary control will be at play.

1. Introduction; 2. Territorial politics and subnational democratization: charting the theoretical landscape; 3. Subnational authoritarianism in the United States: boundary control and the 'Solid South'; 4. Boundary control in democratizing Argentina; 5. Boundary control in democratizing Mexico; 6. Boundary control: comparisons and conclusions.

Edward L. Gibson is Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. He is the author of Class and Conservative Parties: Argentina in Comparative Perspective and editor of Federalism and Democracy in Latin America. He is also author of several scholarly articles on party politics, democratization and federalism. Professor Gibson has received awards from the National Science Foundation CAREER Program, the Howard Foundation and other institutions. He teaches courses on democratization, comparative politics, Latin American politics and federalism, and has received numerous teaching awards, including Northwestern University's McCormick Professorship of Teaching Excellence.