Author

Perry Spike

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Area of Concentration

Political Science and International and Area Studies with History

Abstract

This study analyzes the impact emergency powers have on democracy, democratic transitions, and democratic quality. It reviews the extant literature and determines that there are several areas where further research is required. Using multivariate regression, it finds correlations between the presence of emergency powers, and decreased democratic quality, and sharp decreases in democratic quality when emergency powers are used. This relationship holds when standard predictors of democratic quality are accounted for. To generate deeper insights into questions raised by the quantitative study, this study then turns to qualitative analysis of several cases. The case studies show the danger posed by using emergency power in fledgling and established democracies. Another finding is that emergency power design has less effect on democratic outcomes than the literature assumes.

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