This course focuses on the politics of authoritarian regimes. The course begins with an investigation of the conceptual and operational differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes, as well as the consequences of those differences. We also examine conceptual distinctions between empirical examples of personalist, monarchical, totalitarian, military, and single party regimes. The remainder of the course considers the means by which authoritarian governments maintain and exercise their power. Topics covered include ideology, coercion, political socialization, cooptation, electoral fraud, vote buying, institution building, and patronage distribution.