Attrition as a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization
| Author | Trix van Mierlo |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/01925121211019269 |
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Original Research Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121211019269
International Political Science Review
2023, Vol. 44(2) 262 –276
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/01925121211019269
journals.sagepub.com/home/ips
Attrition as a bottom-up
pathway to subnational
democratization
Trix van Mierlo
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Abstract
Oftentimes, democracy is not spread out evenly over the territory of a country. Instead, pockets of
authoritarianism can persist within a democratic system. A growing body of literature questions how such
subnational authoritarian enclaves can be democratized. Despite fascinating insights, all existing pathways
rely on the actions of elites and are therefore top-down. This article seeks to kick-start the discussion on a
bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization, by proposing the attrition mechanism. This mechanism
consists of four parts and is the product of abductive inference through theory-building causal process
tracing. The building blocks consist of subnational democratization literature, social movement theory, and
original empirical data gathered during extensive field research. This case study focuses on the ‘Dynasty
Slayer’ in the province of Isabela, the Philippines, where civil society actors used the attrition mechanism to
facilitate subnational democratization. This study implies that civil society actors in subnational authoritarian
enclaves have agency.
Keywords
Subnational democratization, subnational authoritarianism, civil society, social movements, political
dynasties, Philippines
Introduction
Authoritarianism sometimes persists in countries that are considered democratic. Such countries
are considered to be democratic due to the faulty assumption that democracy is spread out evenly
within a territory. In reality, however, there can be big differences in the degree of democracy
within a country, allowing pockets or enclaves of subnational authoritarianism to persist. A subna-
tional authoritarian enclave is ‘a local regime in which the local offices and agencies of the state
have been captured by a single locally based individual, family, clan, clique, or organization, who
enjoys and exercises the discretionary powers and resources of the state outside effective demo-
cratic accountability, electoral challenge, and the rule of law’ (Sidel, 2014: 163). This phenomenon
Corresponding author:
Trix van Mierlo, Department of Political Science, University of Innsbruck, Universitätsstraße 15, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Email: trix.van-mierlo@uibk.ac.at
1019269IPS0010.1177/01925121211019269International Political Science Reviewvan Mierlo
research-article2021
Original Research Article
To continue reading
Request your trial