Life after Dictatorship launches a new research agenda on authoritarian successor parties worldwide. Authoritarian successor parties are parties that emerge from authoritarian regimes, but that operate after a transition to democracy. They are one of the most common but overlooked features of the global democratic landscape. They are major actors in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and they have been voted back into office in over one-half of all third-wave democracies. This book presents a new set of terms, definitions, and research questions designed to travel across regions, and presents new data on these parties' prevalence and frequent return to power. With chapters from leading Africanists, Asianists, Europeanists, and Latin Americanists, it asks: why are authoritarian successor parties so common? Why are some more successful than others? And in what ways can they harm - or help - democracy?

James Loxton is a Lecturer in Comparative Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. His research interests include authoritarian regimes, democratization, and political parties. He is the co-editor of Challenges of Party-Building in Latin America (Cambridge, 2016). He is currently writing a book on conservative party-building in Latin America. He holds a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University.