IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v167y2023ics0305750x23000487.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Patronage and authoritarian co-optation of the military: Theory with evidence from post-Mao China

Author

Listed:
  • Sheng, Yumin

Abstract

How do dictators cultivate support among military leaders to mitigate their “guardianship dilemma”? A prominent thesis suggests autocrats in regimes with a dominant political party seek to prolong their rule by lavishing with career rewards underlings in their patronage networks built over a track record of trust and loyalty. This can be daunting for post-founding-generation dictators with little military experience and lacking prior interaction with their generals, an increasingly common challenge in party autocracies. Proposing a simple framework to think about the challenges of co-opting the military leaders for autocrats with different career background, I argue that party autocrats with no military career credentials can build new allegiance by bestowing job-related patronage on the military leaders appointed by themselves at the expense of legacy generals inherited from their predecessors. Analyzing yearly career outcomes of leaders of the regional commands of the People’s Liberation Army in post-Mao China, I find strong empirical support for the main argument. Compared with personal appointees, legacy generals were 63 percent less likely to be promoted under autocrats without military experience, but their odds of promotion did not seem to differ under autocrats boasting military career background. This study contributes to research on authoritarian efforts to tame internal threats, clientelism, party dictatorships, leader traits, and China’s civil-military ties.

Suggested Citation

  • Sheng, Yumin, 2023. "Patronage and authoritarian co-optation of the military: Theory with evidence from post-Mao China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:167:y:2023:i:c:s0305750x23000487
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X23000487
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106230?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meng, Anne & Paine, Jack, 2022. "Power Sharing and Authoritarian Stability: How Rebel Regimes Solve the Guardianship Dilemma," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 116(4), pages 1208-1225, November.
    2. Albertus, Michael & Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto & Magaloni, Beatriz & Weingast, Barry R., 2016. "Authoritarian Survival and Poverty Traps: Land Reform in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 154-170.
    3. Georgy Egorov & Konstantin Sonin, 2011. "Dictators And Their Viziers: Endogenizing The Loyalty–Competence Trade‐Off," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(5), pages 903-930, October.
    4. Philip Keefer, 2008. "Insurgency and Credible Commitment in Autocracies and Democracies," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 22(1), pages 33-61, January.
    5. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    6. Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2005. "Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War II," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(3), pages 835-864.
    7. Kung, James Kai-Sing & Chen, Shuo, 2011. "The Tragedy of the Nomenklatura: Career Incentives and Political Radicalism during China's Great Leap Famine," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 105(1), pages 27-45, February.
    8. Junyan Jiang, 2018. "Making Bureaucracy Work: Patronage Networks, Performance Incentives, and Economic Development in China," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(4), pages 982-999, October.
    9. Dyzenhaus, Alex, 2021. "Patronage or policy? The politics of property rights formalization in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    10. Scott, James C., 1972. "Patron-Client Politics and Political Change in Southeast Asia," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 91-113, March.
    11. Horowitz, Michael C. & Stam, Allan C., 2014. "How Prior Military Experience Influences the Future Militarized Behavior of Leaders," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(3), pages 527-559, July.
    12. Perlmutter, Amos & LeoGrande, William M., 1982. "The Party in Uniform: Toward a Theory of Civil-Military Relations in Communist Political Systems," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(4), pages 778-789, December.
    13. Ruixue Jia & Masayuki Kudamatsu & David Seim, 2015. "Political Selection In China: The Complementary Roles Of Connections And Performance," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 631-668, August.
    14. Chen, Ting & Kung, J.K.-S., 2016. "Do land revenue windfalls create a political resource curse? Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 86-106.
    15. Mcmahon, R. Blake & Slantchev, Branislav L., 2015. "The Guardianship Dilemma: Regime Security through and from the Armed Forces," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 109(2), pages 297-313, May.
    16. Mcmahon, R. Blake & Slantchev, Branislav L., 2015. "The Guardianship Dilemma: Regime Security through and from the Armed Forces—ERRATUM," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 109(3), pages 636-636, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sultan Mehmood, 2021. "The impact of Presidential appointment of judges: Montesquieu or the Federalists?," AMSE Working Papers 2118, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    2. Sultan Mehmood, 2021. "The impact of Presidential appointment of judges: Montesquieu or the Federalists?," Working Papers halshs-03161933, HAL.
    3. Adam Scharpf & Christian Gläßel, 2020. "Why Underachievers Dominate Secret Police Organizations: Evidence from Autocratic Argentina," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 791-806, October.
    4. Ying Bai & Titi Zhou, 2019. "“Mao’s last revolution”: a dictator’s loyalty–competence tradeoff," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(3), pages 469-500, September.
    5. Charles Crabtree & Holger L Kern & David A Siegel, 2020. "Cults of personality, preference falsification, and the dictator’s dilemma," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 32(3), pages 409-434, July.
    6. Danqing Wang & Zhitao Zhu & Shuo Chen & Xiaowei Rose Luo, 2021. "Running out of steam? A political incentive perspective of FDI inflows in China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(4), pages 692-717, June.
    7. Chen, Shuo & Qiao, Xue & Zhu, Zhitao, 2021. "Chasing or cheating? Theory and evidence on China's GDP manipulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 657-671.
    8. Abel Escribà -Folch & Tobias Böhmelt & Ulrich Pilster, 2020. "Authoritarian regimes and civil–military relations: Explaining counterbalancing in autocracies," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 37(5), pages 559-579, September.
    9. Jiang, Junyan & Zhang, Muyang, 2020. "Friends with benefits: Patronage networks and distributive politics in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    10. Li, Yue & Shao, Xiang & Tao, Zhigang & Yuan, Hongjie, 2022. "How local leaders matter: Inter-provincial leadership transfers and land transactions in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 196-220.
    11. Dong, Zhiqiang & Wang, Xiaobing & Zhang, Tianhua & Zhong, Yuejun, 2022. "The effects of local government leadership turnover on entrepreneurial behavior," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    12. Bo, Shiyu & Deng, Liuchun & Sun, Yufeng & Wang, Boqun, 2021. "Intergovernmental communication under decentralization," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 606-652.
    13. Sultan Mehmood, 2020. "Judicial Independence and Development: Evidence from Pakistan," Working Papers halshs-03054106, HAL.
    14. Xi, Tianyang & Yao, Yang & Zhang, Muyang, 2018. "Capability and opportunism: Evidence from city officials in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 1046-1061.
    15. Danglun Luo & Congcong Liu & Lifan Wu, 2020. "Horizontal Networks and Economic Performance: Evidence from City Leaders in China," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1359-1373, July.
    16. Jing Wu & Hao Li & Keyang Li, 2020. "Local political chief turnover and economic growth: Evidence from China," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 441-466, July.
    17. Sultan Mehmood, 2020. "Judicial Independence and Development: Evidence from Pakistan," AMSE Working Papers 2041, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    18. Jiang, Junyan & Mei, Yuan, 2020. "Mandarins make markets: Leadership rotations and inter-provincial trade in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    19. Jerg Gutmann & Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska & Stefan Voigt, 2023. "Leader Characteristics and Constitutional Compliance," Working Papers 2023-11, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    20. Pande, Rohini, 2008. "Understanding Political Corruption in Low Income Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 50, pages 3155-3184, Elsevier.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:167:y:2023:i:c:s0305750x23000487. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.