King Can Do No Wrong

Scott Williamson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow at Magdalen College. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University.

• 1. Introduction; 2. A theory of power-sharing and attributions under authoritarian rule; 3. Cross-national evidence on power-sharing and attributions in autocracies; 4. The Jordanian monarchy's strategic blame games; 5. How Jordanians attribute responsibility; 6. Power-sharing and attributions across Jordan's modern history; 7. How Jordan's blame games influence governance; 8. The royal advantage in power-sharing and blame shifting; 9. Power-sharing, blame, and the collapse of royal regimes; 10. Conclusion; Bibliography.

'Scott Williamson has written an excellent book, detailing how power sharing may allow autocrats to avoid blame and retain support. The book presents a fascinating and important argument and backs it up by using a wealth of evidence from Arab monarchies and beyond.' Carl Henrik Knutsen, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo