<p>C-essay in political science by Anna Höjenberg and Maria Stenberg, spring of 2006</p><p>“The Grey Zone – An essay on the characteristics of a hybrid regime and a case study of Russia”. Supervisors: Joakim Ekman and Jonas Linde</p><p>This essay deals with the concept of hybrid regimes. The purpose is to describe the structure and the content of such a regime-type and try to create a model which can help us to analyse different countries. The essay is divided into two sections. The first part is a theory generated study which describes the characteristics of the concept hybrid regime. With the support of the different characteristics we have created a typology divided into four dimensions. The main material consists of articles from the scientific journal Journal of Democracy and academic books. The second part of the essay is a qualitative comparative case study of Russia, with the purpose to see whether Russia can be characterised as a hybrid regime or not.</p><p>In our typology a hybrid regime is something between a democratic regime and an authoritarian regime. In contrast to an authoritarian regime it is possible for the opposition in a hybrid regime to come into power, but in comparison to a democracy the struggle is much harder and it requires a more extensive mobilisation. We consider Russia to fall into the category of hybrid regimes, but the recent developments under President Putin demonstrate that the country also inhabits several features that we considered authoritarian.</p>

This study aims to scrutinize Turkey’s uneasy democratization process during the post-Helsinki period (1999-2010). The research design of the thesis takes the form of a single case study as it seeks to critically link Turkey’s democratization problems with the wider theoretical literature on secularism, post-Islamism and democratization. Rather than witnessing the clear-cut victory of liberal democracy over non-democracy as espoused by Fukuyamian eschatology, the advent of the Post-Cold War Era witnessed the proliferation of hybrid grey zone which stood between the continuum of democracy and conventional non-democracy. As a result, many scholars opted to construct ‘hybrid regime typologies’ in order to capture the incongruous yet enduring coexistence of partially democratic and non-democratic features within each political unit. In line with contemporary developments in the democratization literature, this thesis opts to construct a multi-dimensional hybrid regime typology for the case of Turkey. Besides seeking to capture the core regime principles of the Kemalist one-party dictatorship (1923-1946) under the label of ‘laic-ethnocracy’, the theoretical framework of the thesis provides an assessable normative benchmark for delineating Turkey’s democratization trajectory since the initiation of the multi-party era (1946-1950). After demonstrating how Turkey’s successive ‘controlled transitions’ (1946-1997) consistently aimed at perpetuating ethnocratic hegemony and obstructing the democratic transformation of incompatible aspects of the Kemalist laicism, the thesis seeks to scrutinize the impact of the EU candidacy in shaping the pattern and outcome of the recent democratization process in the domestic arena. In this respect, the thesis underlines how the ongoing political ‘transition process’ during the post-Helsinki decade (1999-2009) qualitatively differs from all of the previous transitions which had been guided and forcefully controlled by traditional Kemalist state elites. Yet, the thesis also exposes the limited and partial commitment of the post-Islamist AKP government to forge the democratic transformation of Turkey’s enduring ‘laic-ethnocratic’ regime paradigm namely by assessing its reform performance towards the cultural rights of ethnic and belief-rights of the non-Sunni Muslim minorities (e.g., the sizeable Kurdish ethnic and Muslim-Alevi religious minority). Overall, the thesis characterizes Turkey’s ‘post-Helsinki transition’ process as a case of uneasy democratization. In this context, the term ‘uneasy democratization’ does not only highlight the inconsistencies of main domestic political actors in forging clear-cut democratic transformation of Turkey’s enduring ‘laic-ethnocracy’ regime paradigm, but also to a chronic failure to soothe the deeply-seated cleavages within the socio-political arena.

The diploma thesis "The Hybrid Regime and the Democracy in Peru - the Regime of Alberto Fujimori." will be focused on the regime of Alberto Fujimori in Peru in the scope of theories of hybrid regimes, a theory of "neopopulism" and a theory of "autogolpe". The theoretical frame of the thesis is based on theories of hybrid regimes by Larry Diamond and Guillermo O'Donnell, further on a theory of "neopopulism" by Kurt Weyland and a theoretical analysis of the "autogolpe" by Maxwell A. Cameron. The thesis will be focused on the fact whether the examined regime corresponds to one type of hybrid regimes based on criteria of the theoretical framework and whether it is the case of "neopopulism". As factors that could affect the form of Fujimori's regime there will be analysed campaigns of guerrilla groups Shining Path and MRTA and the solution of the economic crisis. The aim of the diploma thesis is the analysis of Fujimori's government, thus the finding, whether it is possible to mark the regime as hybrid and which type specifically. The thesis will use the method of comparative analysis for comparison purposes to compare countries where was or may be realized "autogolpe". Then there will be used a case study to describe the events that preceded the election of president Fujimori and then the description...

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The central themes of the thesis are the limits of democracy, the qualities that distinguish it from other political regimes, the criteria necessary for its existence, and the character of the regimes that arise if one or more of these criteria are not met. The first part of the thesis presents fundamental concepts and theories that deal with these questions, the goal of the second part is to apply these theoretical considerations to a particular case, namely Hungary. The first part focuses primarily on the definition of democracy and non-democracy, on the functioning and characteristics of regimes in the "grey area" between democracy and authoritarianism, on the definitions of relevant terms and on the ways in which various theories of democracy, authoritarianism and hybrid regimes approach these concepts and definitions. The first chapter presents the theories of democracy that are relevant to the discussion about hybrid regimes: the minimalist concept, the procedural minimum and the extended procedural minimum. The second chapter focuses on the definition of the opposite of democracy, the third chapter presents a cognitive-linguistic approach to the links between democracy and authoritarianism. The last two chapters of the first part offer a brief overview of the theories of hybrid regimes and...

<p>The aim of this Master´s thesis is to examine which type of regime the state Iran is. There has been much research on this issue and the discussion is not over yet. I have departed from three theoretical perspectives in order to understand which type of regime the Middle Eastern nation is: theocracy, democracy and hybrid regime. The theocratic regimetype is composed by David L. Websters archeological theory about governments ruled by God. For the democratic theory in this study Robert Dahls analytical framework about democracy and polyarchy is used. The hybrid regime is mainly represented by Andreas Schedler indicators. A qualitative case study approach is used for the purpose of this study where I have constructed an analytical framework containing indicators in order to apply these on the three regime models. The results and conclusion I can draw from this study is that Iran is more like a hybrid regime. However, there are several reservations and there need to be more studies to qualify this suggestion.</p>

The aim of this Master´s thesis is to examine which type of regime the state Iran is. There has been much research on this issue and the discussion is not over yet. I have departed from three theoretical perspectives in order to understand which type of regime the Middle Eastern nation is: theocracy, democracy and hybrid regime. The theocratic regimetype is composed by David L. Websters archeological theory about governments ruled by God. For the democratic theory in this study Robert Dahls analytical framework about democracy and polyarchy is used. The hybrid regime is mainly represented by Andreas Schedler indicators. A qualitative case study approach is used for the purpose of this study where I have constructed an analytical framework containing indicators in order to apply these on the three regime models. The results and conclusion I can draw from this study is that Iran is more like a hybrid regime. However, there are several reservations and there need to be more studies to qualify this suggestion.

In 2009, Honduras was affected by a military coup, where the former president Manuel Zelaya was deposed. The coup was supported by the National Congress and the Supreme Court, with the arguments that the action was a necessary act for defending and maintaining the democracy in the country. It is therefore interesting to see what type of regime that has emerged afterwards. The study is analysed by Robert Dahl´s theory about polyarchy and Joakim Ekman´s theory about hybrid regimes since Honduras shows tendencies towards both types of regimes in the present state. The study has three different perspectives regarding the empirical data to obtain a comprehensive picture as possible of what kind of regime that Honduras is considered to be today. The material consists of the national constitution to get a glimpse of the formal aspects of the political shape in the country as well as reports provided by international organizations to get the view from the outside world but the primary material is from interviews with people determined important by the positions in the Honduran civil society. The results display that Honduras has significant democratic elements; free elections and a constitution that recognizes the basic liberties, which according to Dahl meets up with the criteria of a democratic polyarchy. However, the lack of accountability for government institutions, corruption and violations against freedom of speech - where the most affected groups are journalists, human right defenders and indigenous people, indicates that Honduras have more similarities to that what Joakim Ekman refers to as a hybrid regime.

This essay aims to answer how domestic politics and events have affected the democratic development in Turkey from 2005 until 2015. Two questions are being discussed and answered; how has the democratic development in Turkey between 2005 and 2015 played out, and; which internal factors have contributed to the democratic development direction. The study is a theory consuming case study with both an explanatory and descriptive approach. The theoretical framework is built upon theories regarding democratization, regime types challenges of democratic consolidation are collected from well-established scientists. This framework is used on the empirical material of the study to bring forward answers to the research questions. The results of the study show that after some positive democratic around 2005, the democratic development has taken an anti-democratic turn after 2011. What could be described as an electoral democracy with liberal democratic tendencies in 2005 is 2015 better described as a hybrid regime, with authoritarian tendencies.

The thesis focuses on analysis of the current opposition in Russia. Attention is mainly focused on the conditions for the existence and operation of the opposition created by the government's garniture, including the purposeful changes of the valid legislation and its influence on the state of the present opposition. Furthermore, the work aims to map key opposition parties and find out what the character of the current opposition is, whether it offers a liberal-democratic alternative to the existing regime or not. Last but not least, presented public opinion polls investigate whether there is room for opposition in society and what the society's attitude toward opposition is. This thesis is a contribution to discussion in the context of the nature of the current regime in Russia and the real possibilities for its change in the near future, because analysing the opposition is important for understanding of the system and its functioning, both in terms of conditions for its functioning, its embedding in society and ideological focus.