International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

E-ISSN: 2582-2160   •   Impact Factor: 9.24

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Call for Paper Volume 8, Issue 6 (November-December 2026) Submit your research before last 3 days of December to publish your research paper in the issue of November-December.
Submit Research Paper Join as a Reviewer

Plagiarism is checked by the leading plagiarism checker TurnItIn

Call for Paper

Volume 8 Issue 6
November-December 2026

Submit your research paper

Indexing Partners
Academia Advanced Sciences Index Bielefeld Academic Search Engine CiteSeer DRJI Google Scholar Independent Search Engine & Directory Network ISI (International Scientific Indexing) Issuu Mendeley Research Networks
RefSeek ResearcherId - Thomson Reuters ResearchGate Scirus Scribd Semantic Scholar UTeM - Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka Wiki for Call for Papers WorldCat Zenodo

Power Without Prosperity? Explaining Divergent Economic Performance Across Authoritarian Regimes

Author(s) Meher Kapoor
Country India
Abstract Authoritarian regimes have produced markedly different economic outcomes, ranging from sustained growth and structural transformation to instability and severe decline. This study asks what explains these divergent outcomes and how state capacity, institutional predictability, and economic governance shape economic performance under authoritarian rule. Using a small-N comparative historical design, it conducts a structured comparison of six authoritarian regime-periods: China (1978-1997), South Korea (1961-1979), Singapore (1965-1990), Venezuela (1999-2013), Zimbabwe (1980-2017), and Afghanistan (1996-2001). The analysis examines economic performance, state capacity and institutional quality, development strategies, political organisation, and corruption, rent-seeking, and resource management. Evidence is drawn from World Bank and IMF economic data, established regime- classification datasets and relevant historical and country-specific research. The findings show that authoritarianism alone does not explain economic performance. Stronger outcomes were associated with capable state institutions, policy continuity, institutional predictability, effective implementation, and productive resource allocation, while weaker state capacity, policy instability, resource dependence, and conflict constrained economic performance in the less successful cases. The study therefore highlights the importance of institutional and policy differences within authoritarian systems and contributes to a more differentiated understanding of authoritarian governance and economic development.
Keywords Authoritarian regimes, Economic development, State capacity, Institutional predictability
Field Sociology > Economics
Published In Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On 2026-10-29
DOI https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.90504
View / Download PDF File

Share this



E-ISSN 2582-2160
CrossRef

CrossRef DOI prefix of IJFMR is 10.36948/ijfmr

Downloads
Research Paper Format Copyright Permission Form and Undertaking Form

All research papers published on this website are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and all rights belong to their respective authors/researchers.

CC-BY-SA Open Access

About IJFMR
Fees & Payment
Current Issue
Publication Archive 		Submit Research Paper
Track Submission Status
Publication Guidelines
Publication Ethics
Peer Review & Plagiarism 		Join as a Reviewer
Editors & Reviewers
Reviewer Referral Program
Get Reviewer Membership Certi. 		Website/Journal Policies
Usage Policy
Content Policies
Privacy Policy
Contact Us +91-9687-828-838 editor@ijfmr.com
Powered by Sky Research Publication and Journals