In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Lucan Way – co-author, with Steven Levitsky, of the new book Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism – introduces what revolutionary autocracies are; explains why they tend to prove much more durable than other kinds of authoritarian regimes; discusses how the revolutionary sequences so crucial for the emergence of such regimes have played out in the various cases across the globe; and reflects on the contemporary relevance of the book’s findings concerning autocratic longevity.

Lucan Way is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. His research focuses primarily on democratization and authoritarianism in the former Soviet Union and the developing world. He is the author of Pluralism by Default: Weak Autocrats and the Rise of Competitive Politics (2015) and co-author, with Steven Levitsky, of Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (2010).

Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism is published by Princeton University Press.

In collaboration with Lucie Hunter