【主讲】林展 (Renmin University of China)
【主题】There is No Mercy: Legitimacy, Elite Competition and Political Discipline
【时间】2017年10月23日 (周一) 15：30-17：00
【地点】上海财经大学经济学院楼702室
【语言】英文
【摘要】Why a ruler would discipline his subordinates? This question matters for the perennial dictator’s dilemma that the political survival of a dictator is contingent on the mutual trust between ruler and his staunch supporters. The delicate balance would be easily broken when the punishment for malfeasance or corruption are misconstrued by supporters, even those untouched, as intentional purge, which obviously foment the distrust. So why a ruler would risk being eliminated by rivals to stage a political discipline? A great deal of literatures argue that elite competition is the cardinally driving force of political discipline. This account still leaves some room for further exploration in that giving the elite competition is an inherent feature of authoritarian politics, what factors are responsible for its recurrence and intensity? This paper contributes to the literature by pointing out that political legitimacy plays a critical role in determining whether a ruler would punish his subordinates more frequently. We argue that it is more attractive and imperative for an illegitimate ruler to launch a political discipline against his subordinates. Because the questionable enthronement gives the latent rivals an opportunity to challenge the reign legitimacy, which significantly intensifies the conflict among political elites. Employing the data collected from 2000 years Chinese history records, this paper provides evidence for this hypothesis by showing that an illegitimate enthronement, defined as an emperor without prince status, is positively associated with a high likelihood and intensity of political punishment. Our finding highlights the importance of the political legitimacy in authoritarian politics, and show how this factor affects the politic dynamics persistently for two millenniums.
