The Post-Exile Fate of Leaders: A New Dataset

With the recent development of datasets on political leaders,there has been a growing body of research on the punishment of leaders,such as exile,imprisonment,and execution. Unlike execution and imprisonment,however,exile does not necessarily lead to a disastrous end. Nevertheless,previous studies have focused only on the treatment of leaders at the point of loss of power and have lumped exile together with other punishments. In other words,prior studies have focused too short a time span as the fate of leaders. Therefore,by constructing a unique dataset that tracks the fate of exiled leaders over a longer period of time,this study systematically and comprehensively investigated whether exile actually serves as punishment or not. Specifically,it examined whether exiled leaders were able to return to their home countries,if so,how they were treated after their return, and whether their lives in exile were favorable. The analysis revealed that the fates of the leaders after exile were extremely diverse and that exile does not generally function as punishment. Thus,existing studies that have lumped exile together with other punishments need to be significantly revised.