Hybrid Regimes within Democracies Fiscal Federalism and Subnational Rentier States

From the racially segregated 'Jim Crow' US South to the many electoral but hardly democratic local regimes in Argentina and other federal democracies, the political rights of citizens around the world are often curtailed by powerful subnational rulers. Hybrid Regimes within Democracies presents the first comprehensive study of democracy and authoritarianism in all the subnational units of a federation. The book focuses on Argentina, but also contains a comparative chapter that considers seven other federations including Germany, Mexico, and the United States. The in-depth and multidimensional description of subnational regimes in all Argentine provinces is complemented with an innovative explanation for the large differences between those that are democratic and those that are 'hybrid' - complex combinations of democratic and authoritarian elements. Putting forward and testing an original theory of subnational democracy, Gervasoni extends the rentier-state explanatory logic from resource rents to the more general concept of 'fiscal rents', including 'fiscal federalism rents', and from the national to the subnational level.

Part I. Description: The Anatomy and Evolution of Subnational Regimes: 1. Defining and measuring subnational regimes; 2. The subnational democracy index: trends in provincial regimes (1983–2015); 3. Expert survey evidence: the many dimensions of subnational democracy; Part II. Explanation: The Causes of Subnational Regimes: 4. On the rentier effects of fiscal federalism on subnational regimes; 5. Fiscal federalism, subnational rentierism, and hybrid provincial regimes in Argentina; 6. The determinants of provincial regimes in Argentina; Part III. Comparison: Subnational Regimes around the World: A Comparative Perspective: Levels of subnational democracy in seven federations and one unitary country; Conclusion.

Carlos Gervasoni is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina. His articles have appeared in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Democratization, Party Politics, Política y Gobierno, and World Politics. He is a Regional Manager for the Varieties of Democracy project, and a member of the 2015 Argentine Panel Election Study research team. His research on subnational regimes has been supported by a National Science Foundation award.