Defect or Defend: Military Responses to Popular Protests in Authoritarian Asia

Defect or Defend makes several critical contributions to the literature on political transitions. In a marked departure from dominant theories that claim personalistic regimes are least vulnerable to infighting, Lee claims that the exercise of discretionary power by a personalist dictator fosters more factionalism within the armed forces. Furthermore, the argument engages a growing body of scholarship that focuses on the divergence of elite interests to explain regime transitions. While existing literature mostly assumes that the military will do the political elites' bidding, evidence presented in the book proves that this is not always the case. Although it primarily draws on evidence from cases in Asia, the book's theoretical insights will be of interest to scholars who study authoritarianism and democratization in other parts of the world."