The article proposes an operational model for comparative analysis of non-democratic political regimes. It is based on the holistic methodology, new institutionalism framework and structural-functional approach. The paper systematizes the theories of foreign and Russian authors towards typology and differentiation between certain types of autocracies. There is a tendency to gradual change in the main research areas in the community of transitology scholars - from “democratic optimism” witnessed at the end of the twentieth century to the analysis of the mechanisms of self-preservation of autocracies, which has gained popularity in recent years. The essence of the "political regime" concept is specified with regard to its static and dynamic aspects. Some differences between democratic and non-democratic regimes are considered. The article explores basic typologies of political regimes, enumerates the characteristics of some types of non-democratic political regimes, and proposes relevant operational definitions. Main vectors of transformations of autocracies, such as liberalization or strengthening of authoritarian tendencies, are indicated. Both of them can be considered either as actions taken so as to preserve the authoritarian system or promote democratization. The operational model elaborated in this paper for the classification of non-democratic political regimes and their transformations can be used to conduct cross-country, as well as cross-temporal comparisons within the framework of case study.
