Elite unity tends to remain stronger in regimes where a single party rather than the military dominates. Within singe-party systems, cadres and officials might divide in to factions around policy issues but remain committed to keeping the regime intact. Military-dominated regimes tend to be less stable as there are often important divisions over the initiation of a coup and the timeline of remaining in power. Most officers tend to prioritize the survival and efficacy of the military itself. When pressures arise against military regimes, some factions usually prefer to return to the barracks (Geddes,1999).
When we juxtapose these insights with the role of social classes, an alternative explanation emerges. Democratization or other forms of regime change are predicated less on certain observable levels of development, size of middle class, or type of business class but instead are much more products of choices made by authoritarian leaders