1 - Introduction

Summary

This chapter provides an overview of the entire book by outlining two puzzles: (1) Why do some leaders institutionalize their regimes while others do not? (2) Do institutionalized regimes perform better on regime outcomes compared with noninstitutionalized regimes? I preview two main arguments. First, I argue that leaders who enter power weak are more likely to institutionalize their regimes. Second, I argue that conditional on being an initially weak leader, those who institutionalize face better regime outcomes.