The study of political change requires that we pay attention to elites. In stable regimes power and wealth usually keep elites quiescent and sufficiently satisfied to accept the prevailing rules of the game. In their classic study, Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe Schmitter argue however that elite splits always precede the collapse of authoritarian regimes and transitions to democracy. Splits are not just disagreements about usual policy areas but are fundamental differences in the way a political regime is managed or within the regime itself.