GONGOs, Zombies, and Astroturfers : Rethinking Hybrid Institutions in Autocracies through the Case of Jordanian Youth Governance

Summary, in English

Autocracies have increasingly begun to clothe themselves in the guise of hybrid, semi-official institutions that exhibit a degree of autonomy from the state, such as Government-Organized NGOs (GONGOs), “zombie” election observers, regime-run think tanks, astroturfing, or semi-official state-mobilized movements (SMMs). Existing literature has analyzed hybrid institutions as products of their functions. Instead, by employing a historical-institutional analysis of the evolution of Jordanian youth GONGOs, I demonstrate that institutional hybridity often arises from institutional contradictions, particularly between the path dependence (vested interests, inertia, and inflexibility) of existing institutions and shifting regime objectives, which drive autocrats to establish parallel hybrid institutions to perform the job existing institutions cannot. These findings bridge scholarship on historical institutionalism and authoritarian institutions by emphasizing the centrality of contradictions in institutional change.

• Author: Adam Almqvist
• Department/s: Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES); MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World; Department of Political Science
• Publishing year: 2026-04-01
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Comparative Politics
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 3
• Links: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cuny/cp/2026/00000058/00000003/art00002; http://dx.doi.org/10.5129/001041525X17616544730468
• Document type: Journal article
• Topic: Political Science
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 2151-6227