Authoritarian rule – one-party dictatorships, military regimes, oligarchies, and other autocracies – erodes democracy and human rights. Its symptoms include media censorship, the silencing of political opposition, and stacking government agencies with loyalists. It also includes scapegoating marginalized groups, like immigrants and refugees, and demonizing enemies, such as George Soros or Donald Trump.
When these governments claim to save the world from existential threats, citizens often buy their bogus narrative. They may then be willing to surrender their normal democratic freedoms in exchange for safety and prosperity.
In the aftermath of the collapse of Soviet Communism, scholars and activists were optimistic that authoritarianism would become obsolete. But in the years that followed, many democracies reverted to authoritarian practices.
As democratic institutions ossify, citizens seek leaders who promise to solve their problems directly and quickly. Populist authoritarians, such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, take advantage of these vulnerabilities to justify sweeping restrictions on civil liberties. They also use democratic institutions, such as referendums, to eliminate term limits and expand their powers.
In the face of a global assault on democracy, we need to understand the key characteristics of authoritarian power and how best to resist it. We must also recognize the role of nonstate actors, including corporations, philanthropists, and religious groups, in strengthening democracy’s resilience against authoritarian threat. And we must work together to create a global system that bolsters democracy and holds authoritarians accountable.