| Crynodeb: | Periods following revolutionary regime change are often governed by Transitional Administrations (TAs). Such bodies are seldom elected or even selected in any formal process. As such the political authority they enjoy is a priori deeply puzzling. This thesis seeks to understand the factors which affect the likelihood that a TA will successfully be able to establish its authority. It closely examines two cases of political transition in Libya and Tunisia, as well as the broader universe of TAs. The research concludes that the composition of the TA, in particular its relative inclusivity of the principal socio-political components of the society, greatly impacts the prospects that the TA will establish its authority. However, the research also finds that the inclusivity of the TA is conditioned by other factors, including historical socio-institutional legacies, pre-existing social ties between elites, chance contingencies leading to path-dependent outcomes, and the agency of leaders. As such the thesis proposes a novel socio-institutional explanation of authority- building in political transitions.
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