Autokratische Regimelegitimation und soziale Entwicklung

Is the social development of an autocracy linked to its claim of legitimation? This question is examined in the article with regard to infant mortality. Taking into account 321 autocracies from 120 countries in the period from 1960 to 2010, we find distinct patterns of social development for six types of autocracy with different legitimation strategies: electoral autocracies, communist ideocracies, monarchies, one-party autocracies, military autocracies, and personalist autocracies. In particular, because communist ideocracies are better off than (non-ideocratic) one-party autocracies it seems that legitimation strategies affect social development. However, the influence of legitimation strategies on social development should not be overestimated, most notably as the results of our growth curve models prove to be provisional.