Scholarly attention has increasingly shifted from diminished subtypes of democracy to hybrid regimes, particularly competitive authoritarianism. Such regimes retain democracy’s formal features while failing to meet its minimum standards. When properties of distinct concepts like democracy and authoritarianism are combined, however, confusion, inaccuracy, and mischaracterization of cases may occur. By disaggregating political systems into electoral institutions, surrounding rights and freedoms, constitutionalism, and the rule of law, this article complicates the binary distinction between a midrange definition of democracy and competitive authoritarianism. A number of Andean cases are found to fall on the spectrum of defective democracies between these categories. Defective democracies break down when rulers violate the conditions necessary for institutionalized alternation in power by means of public participation and loyal opposition in an electoral regime. Given leaders’ reliance on electoral legitimacy, however, even defective democracies may prove surprisingly resilient.

中文翻译：

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理解竞争性威权主义：安第斯山脉的教训

学术界的注意力越来越多地从减少的民主亚型转向混合政权，尤其是竞争性威权主义。这样的政权保留了民主的形式特征，但未能达到其最低标准。然而，当将民主和威权主义等不同概念的属性结合起来时，可能会出现混淆、不准确和对案件的错误描述。通过将政治制度分解为选举制度、围绕权利和自由、宪政和法治，本文将民主的中等定义与竞争性威权主义之间的二元区分复杂化了。发现许多安第斯案例属于这些类别之间有缺陷的民主国家的范围。当统治者通过公众参与和选举制度中的忠诚反对而违反制度化权力交替的必要条件时，有缺陷的民主国家就会崩溃。然而，鉴于领导人对选举合法性的依赖，即使是有缺陷的民主国家也可能证明具有惊人的弹性。