POLITICS
The Failure of Democracy: Is Your Country Headed to Authoritarianism?
What could it mean for us in the future?
“The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.”― George Orwell
Authoritarianism is a relationship between those in power and those that are not. In authoritarian regimes, the rulers use their ability to cause fear through imprisonment, torture, repression of free speech, and the press.
Democracies have ways of protecting themselves from these types of governments by making sure that their democratic institutions hold up over time.
What are Authoritarian Regimes?
Authoritarian regimes have a single party with unlimited and unchecked power. This is a form of government where the state is ruled by one individual or group, or all political power belongs to the head of state.
These regimes maintain power through police repression, totalitarian rule, curtailment of civil liberties, censorship, and restrictions on free speech, public assembly, and labor unions.
Authoritarian regimes can be left-wing or right-wing in their ideology and vary based on maintaining power and what policies they put in place.
Right-wing authoritarian regimes are distinguished by the degree of active suppression and persecution of the opposition.
Left-wing authoritarian regimes are characterized by limiting political freedoms to maintain the system that empowers bureaucrats to focus on state goals over individual rights. These governments also seek to control the media in their country to use propaganda to manipulate public opinion.
Five Stages for Authoritarianism
Political analysts and philosophers alike argue that democracies are not eternal. They go through stages on their way to becoming more authoritarian regimes.
These are five stages to go from a democracy to an authoritarian regime:
1) Financial Distress — During this stage, the ruling group cannot meet society’s economic expectations, and thus populists take over. The government then begins to view taxpayers as revenue generators that are an instrument for wealth distribution rather than contributors to the tax base.
2) Propaganda & The Rise Of Scapegoats — This stage is marked by scapegoating either a minority group or foreigners to blame societal problems to distract the electorate from the government’s inability to deal with financial distress. We can see this phenomenon usually during periods of high unemployment or other economic crises. The affected people want someone to blame, so their anger is not directed at themselves.
3) Closing The Political Arena — Once scapegoats have been established, an authoritarian regime begins to restrict fundamental rights and liberties by drawing on emergency power to limit civil liberties, creating what John Locke referred to as a temporary state of “ executive tyranny .” This method is used when political institutions have not yet been dismantled but must be bypassed so leaders can act without being hampered by legislative or judicial review.
4) Judicial Independence Threatened — The government starts using its power within the judicial system to appoint judges in their favor. They start influencing the judiciary by putting pressure on judges who have political views against the regime’s agenda, replacing them with more loyal judges who will not challenge the executive on controversial issues.
5) Personal Dictatorship — The final stage of authoritarianism occurs when institutions supporting democracy no longer function as they should because it is little or no separation between business elites and politicians, so instead of institutions providing checks and balances, they become vehicles for those at the top to accumulate more power and wealth.
What Makes An Authoritarian Regime?
How is an authoritarian regime different from other forms of government? Various characteristics set these types of governments apart from others:
1) Political Repression — The essential feature of an authoritarian regime is political repression to silence any opposition.
2) Dismantling Political Institutions — One way to maintain power in an authoritarian system is to limit meaningful access for candidates who do not have ties with the ruling party. This means dismantling existing institutions and replacing them with those that will support its agenda.
3) Authoritarian leaders must control all levers of government power, including the judiciary, legislature, and executive branches, as a means for avoiding accountability.
4) Control Of The Media — Governments can control their public image by monopolizing media outlets through censorship and propaganda tactics where only favorable views are reported about the state or their policies. In some cases, journalists or whistleblowers may be punished as criminals to ensure the state has complete control over the public image.
5) Weak Or Non-existent Civil Society — A civil society comprises all organized social groups that function outside government, whether independent organizations or institutions that belong to the government itself. One way for leaders to maintain power in an authoritarian system is by limiting or eliminating access to organized groups that can pose a political challenge to their rule. Only state-sanctioned organizations will be permitted to exist, meaning citizens won’t have diverging views on policymaking.
6) Repressive Economic Policies — One way for authoritarian governments or rulers who want more control over their nation’s economy is by taking advantage of economic insecurity and high levels of corruption. They will install repressive economic policies that benefit them or themselves to the detriment of the governing people.
7) Free Elections — Generally, elections in authoritarian regimes are not free and fair because if they were, opposition parties would be allowed to take part, which could pose a threat to their power.
8) Opposition Party Fear — Leaders who control their country’s entire political apparatus know how to use it as a weapon against any potential opposition party or leader by harassing them through legal means such as false imprisonment on fabricated charges with lack of evidence, extrajudicial killings, and torture among other forms of physical abuse.
Authoritarian regimes are not created equal. Even if they have some things in common, there are significant differences between them that depend on the country or the region where it’s located.
Authoritarian rulers can create long-term economic stability for their country by preventing social unrest and offering short-term benefits to specific groups of people while ignoring others who don’t support them. That means that even though the general population may not be very supportive of its government, there are enough people who enjoy these actions so that they will continue with this political arrangement until something drastic happens. This might include losing elections which are often considered a threat to authoritarian leaders because it could lead to failing power.
The Effects of Authoritarian Leadership on Society
An absence of democratic governance characterizes authoritarian regimes. The governing system is not based on the people’s will. Authoritarian regimes can be found in every region globally, and they are often associated with economic stagnation and poverty.
Authoritarian regimes are typically unstable due to their lack of checks and balances. They also tend to be more closed off than democracies, preventing citizens from accessing information that could lead to change. Authoritarian regimes can also cause inflation because they focus on military expenses over public welfare programs.
Under authoritarianism, the government can interfere with its citizens and limit their rights. But, some specific individuals enjoy such a system and support it by giving up their human rights in exchange for stability or protection from an external threat.
For example, many people in North Korea see the nation’s leader as a god-like figure who has saved them from poverty and provided them with jobs which means that they will continue supporting him even if he abuses his power by making false claims about his country’s nuclear weapons program.
When necessary, these regimes can also use propaganda to fit their needs by telling their citizens what they want to hear instead of showing them a reality.
Types of Authoritarian Leadership
There are several different kinds of authoritarian leadership. But, they are generally considered to be one way or the other. A leader can be both an authoritative and democratic leader simultaneously, but this is rare.
Authoritarian leaders often tend to emphasize loyalty over competence in their administration staff which can cause problems later on. This is because loyal followers are not necessarily good leaders, even if they have experience in politics. That means that sometimes inexperienced individuals can lead because they are faithful government supporters, which could pose a problem for society since it can lead to corruption, bribery, or favoritism when making decisions. After all, someone has personal ties with the country’s ruler.
Is My Country Authoritarian?
In the aftermath of WWII, authoritarian governments became a global phenomenon. They are generally characterized by an absence of political pluralism and a single-party system usually dominated by one man or a small group.
Many authoritarian regimes emerged in Africa and Asia in the post-colonial era, while others developed in Latin America starting from the 1980s. The 1990s saw the growth of authoritarianism in Eastern Europe and Russia. At the same time, after 2000, many Middle Eastern countries developed an authoritarian system, including Egypt and Syria.
How to Tell if My Country is Authoritarian — The 4 Key Signs:
- A strong emphasis on power and force over other considerations
- Widespread limits on fundamental rights
- The denial of institutionalized dissent
- The intolerance of opposition
The Dangers of Authoritarianism
It’s easy to see the dangers of authoritarianism in the world today. We should all be concerned about tyranny because it can come into play at any time, for any reason.
Authoritarianism has very negative consequences on citizens, limiting individual autonomy, creating fear among citizens (due to fear of persecution), and creating a climate of uncertainty.
As citizens, we must be concerned about the rise of authoritarianism and what it could mean for us in the future.
The Dangers of Authoritarian Democracy
Democracy is a form of government where leaders are elected and remain accountable. They don’t have total power and can be voted out if they abuse their authority or fail to live up to the people’s expectations.
Authoritarian democracy is different because it combines democratic elections with a strict political system. This makes it harder for voters to hold their leaders accountable since there is no separation between the executive and legislative powers (Gandhi & Moore, 2012). Typical forms of opposition that can unseat a leader aren’t possible because authority rests only with the person in control.
In authoritarian democracies, leaders can cancel elections and change rules when it benefits them to maintain power. For example, in South Africa, President Zuma came under fire for using $23 million of public money to build himself a home at Nkandla (Van Wyk & Durie-Hall, 2013).
Do you believe your country is headed to authoritarianism? Are you for or against this type of government? Let me know what you think in the comments.
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