Approaching Elections Under Autocracies from a multidisciplinary Political Perspective The Case of Iberian Dictatorships (1945–1975)

Domper Lasús, Carlos

En : Combining political history and political science. Towards a new understanding of the political.
2022
Routledge, New York:
Pp: 43-64

Abstract: Dealing with the specific case study of Iberian dictatorships, this chapter provides an analytical framework to conduct research into elections held under autocracies by combining political history and political science. Building on the existing literature on the topic and the historical specificities of the Portuguese New State and Francoism, the chapter offers an explanatory and analytical mechanism equipped with a conceptual unity rather than the mere aggregation of tools and concepts from both fields. In this vein, the model is structured around two types of variables. First, an independent one, which accounts for the historical context in which the elections in question take place and the enduring historical tendencies of which the main phenomena related to them form part. Second, a dependent one, which addresses the electoral processes under scrutiny, the fraud mechanisms used to control them and the role played in their administration by the single parties in both dictatorships. The connection between both variables is established through the existing causal relationship between the specificities taken on by the independent variable in each country and their impact on the set of elements as a whole, which make up the dependent variable therein.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003180234-4