ABSTRACT Democratic transitions and consolidation stalled in many parts of Africa in the past three decades. Ethiopia followed a similar pattern of democratic recession, after promising openings at two important junctures, i.e. 1991 and 2005. In fact, the ruling party claimed a “100 percent victory” winning all the national parliament seats in the latest May 24, 2015 election. This article employs the case of Ethiopia to point at the limits of existing theoretical models on democratic transition explaining electoral authoritarianism. Consequently, the article underscores the need to go beyond the confines of institutional design, elite patronage, and modernization theory to factor in broader sociohistorical factors that buttress electoral authoritarianism. These, I submit, ought to include: (a) the historical sociology about the origin and development of the respective states themselves, and (b) their respective political cultures, and not least their histories of political violence.

中文翻译：

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超越理论的界限：埃塞俄比亚合格的选举威权主义（2005-2015）

摘要 在过去的 30 年里，非洲许多地区的民主转型和巩固停滞不前。埃塞俄比亚在 1991 年和 2005 年这两个重要时刻承诺开放之后，也经历了类似的民主衰退模式。事实上，执政党声称在 2015 年 5 月 24 日的最新选举中“100% 获胜”赢得了所有国家议会席位。本文以埃塞俄比亚为例，指出解释选举威权主义的现有民主转型理论模型的局限性。因此，本文强调需要超越制度设计、精英赞助和现代化理论的界限，将支持选举威权主义的更广泛的社会历史因素考虑在内。我认为，这些应该包括：