Hybridity and political disorder : a mixed method approach to understanding the hybrid regime.

Abstract

This thesis focuses on two central questions; first, does regime hybridity lead to an increased propensity for political disorder; and second, what specific regime level characteristics are responsible for the increased propensity. The theoretical basis for this study is founded in the understanding that the duality of Hybrid regimes ensures that they receive neither the benefit of Authoritarian, coercive force nor Democratic plasticity and thus are unable to prevent political disorder. Therefore, during periods of political transition leaders in these regimes not only cannot prevent these events but may be incentivized to allow or even encourage certain events as a means for citizens to vent political frustration. Hybrid regimes are a topic central to comparative politics, yet work is only now beginning to study specific facets and characteristics of these regimes. Thus, scholars are just beginning to explore hybrid regime characteristics and how they impact critical political activities, is especially true concerning a topic of utmost importance, political disorder. The paper utilizes the PRIO data on Urban Social Disorder to first verify that Hybrid regimes suffer from an increased propensity for political disorder, before proceeding to a case study on Algeria. This case study v focuses on journalistic accounts of political disorder.