We introduce the concept of a “credibility gap” to explain why the Workers’ Party has been more successful than other opposition political parties in recent elections in Singapore. We argue that opposition parties need to overcome a credible commitment problem with the electorate in order to win against hegemonic parties.

Keywords:
electoral authoritarianism, hegemonic party regimes, credible commitment, democratization, Singapore
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© 2014 by the Regents of the University of California
2014
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