Exploring Structural and Political Constraints on Authoritarian Learning: Blaise Compaoré’s Fall from Power in Burkina Faso
Poster Number
18A
Format
Poster Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Dari Sylvester Tran
Faculty Mentor Department
Political Science
Abstract/Artist Statement
In a time of increasing authoritarian proliferation and democratic backslide, it is increasingly important to study questions concerning how authoritarian regimes keep, or lose, power. This paper purports to help better understand the phenomenon of authoritarian learning, defined as the process in which authoritarian regimes adopt strategies and policies learned from the successes and failures of other regimes, or from a historical evaluation of their own regime, in order to prolong their rule. Through a case study of the 2014 revolutions in Burkina Faso and the subsequent resignation of former President Blaise Compaoré, this paper attempts to illustrate why Compaoré was unable to implement learned strategies from previous uprisings in Burkina Faso in order to keep power. This work utilizes the framework of Bank and Edel (2015) to find that learning by Compaoré, in fact, did take place, and then explores two potential variables, internal regime structure, and outside organizational forces, that help explain why policy implementation as a result of this learning was absent. This paper finds that the structural and political constraints of Burkina Faso in 2014 disallowed Compaoré from implementing strategies learned throughout his tenure that would have prolonged his rule.
1Bank, André, and Mirjam Edel. 2015. “Authoritarian Regime Learning: Comparative Insights from the Arab Uprisings.” German Institute for Global and Area Studies Working Paper 274. Hamburg: German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA).
Location
DeRosa University Center Ballroom
Start Date
27-4-2018 12:30 PM
End Date
27-4-2018 2:30 PM
Exploring Structural and Political Constraints on Authoritarian Learning: Blaise Compaoré’s Fall from Power in Burkina Faso
DeRosa University Center Ballroom
In a time of increasing authoritarian proliferation and democratic backslide, it is increasingly important to study questions concerning how authoritarian regimes keep, or lose, power. This paper purports to help better understand the phenomenon of authoritarian learning, defined as the process in which authoritarian regimes adopt strategies and policies learned from the successes and failures of other regimes, or from a historical evaluation of their own regime, in order to prolong their rule. Through a case study of the 2014 revolutions in Burkina Faso and the subsequent resignation of former President Blaise Compaoré, this paper attempts to illustrate why Compaoré was unable to implement learned strategies from previous uprisings in Burkina Faso in order to keep power. This work utilizes the framework of Bank and Edel (2015) to find that learning by Compaoré, in fact, did take place, and then explores two potential variables, internal regime structure, and outside organizational forces, that help explain why policy implementation as a result of this learning was absent. This paper finds that the structural and political constraints of Burkina Faso in 2014 disallowed Compaoré from implementing strategies learned throughout his tenure that would have prolonged his rule.
1Bank, André, and Mirjam Edel. 2015. “Authoritarian Regime Learning: Comparative Insights from the Arab Uprisings.” German Institute for Global and Area Studies Working Paper 274. Hamburg: German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA).