TY  - JOUR
IS  - 2
Y1  - 2023/04/01/
PB  - Cambridge University Press
A1  - Horz, Carlo M
A1  - Marbach, Moritz
A1  - Steinert, Christoph V
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1086/723024
SP  - 524
KW  - authoritarian politics
KW  -  CIVIL-WAR
KW  -  CLIMATE-CHANGE
KW  -  DEMOCRACY
KW  -  ELECTORAL ACCOUNTABILITY
KW  -  environmental pollution
KW  -  Government & Law
KW  -  GRIEVANCE
KW  -  INSTITUTIONS
KW  -  Political Science
KW  -  PROTEST
KW  -  protests
KW  -  QUALITY
KW  -  REGIMES
KW  -  REVOLUTION
KW  -  Social Sciences
TI  - Environmental Pollution and Authoritarian Politics
N2  - Authoritarian rulers fend off revolutions by stimulating the economy. However, expanding the economy can also increase environmental pollution. If citizens value clean air and water, worsening pollution has the potential to galvanize large segments of the society against the regime?which increases the risk of a revolution. While the literature has documented how concerns over the environment upend politics in democracies, we know relatively little about the effects of these concerns in authoritarian regimes. We analyze environmental pollution as an overlooked threat to authoritarian rulers. Using unique data from Communist East Germany and exploiting variation in thermal inversions to instrument for pollution levels, we find that pollution causes both individual and collective expressions of regime dissatisfaction. Our findings suggest that rulers face a trade-off between growing the economy and worsening pollution.
VL  - 85
ID  - discovery10179256
SN  - 0022-3816
N1  - This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher?s terms and conditions.
EP  - 536
JF  - The Journal of Politics
AV  - public
ER  -