I gränslandet mellan demokrati och diktatur

This paper emphasizes on foreign policy decision making in hybrid regimes, carrying traits of both democracies and dictatorships. The inner, internal dynamics poses horizontal as well as vertical challenges for the leaders to ensure their political survival, affecting foreign policies. Seen through the poliheuristic perspective, based on two key cases; Russia and Turkey, this research study has increased our level of awareness concerning foreign policies decisions in electoral autocraties and which aspects become essential to take into consideration for a leader in order to ensure their political survival internally. This study was performed using qualitative techniques and is theoretical rather than empirical. The foreign policies decisions studied are the two states standing in the Iraq-USA crisis and in what way one can comprehend their respective positioning in the matter