Understanding how political coalitions establish and maintain dominance is crucial in light of authoritarian transitions worldwide. The centrality of capital cities to political systems suggests that they are of particular importance to how power is consolidated and resisted at a national level. This project examines capital cities as sites of dissent and control, and the dialectic between these dynamics. Working with a team of researchers we take a comparative approach through four country-case studies in Lusaka (Zambia), Kampala (Uganda), Dhaka (Bangladesh), and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).