Coordinating the machine: subnational political context and the effectiveness of machine politics

Abstract Political machines use state resources to win elections in many developing democracies and electoral autocracies. Recent research has noted that the coordination of machine politics can be much more complex problem-prone than previously thought. Yet, role subnational political context plays solving these problems largely been neglected comparative literature. This article seeks fill this gap suggests control over local administration is an important variable shapes effectiveness authoritarian politics. We exploit great institutional variation within one most prominent regimes today, Russian Federation, test empirical implications theory with detailed level socio-economic data as well multilevel regression models. The results highlight importance structures supporting regimes.