Authoritarianism

persistent authoritarianism relies on a variety of hypothesis to explain the exceptionalism of the MENA region to maintain authoritarian regimes. Certain variables or prerequisites of a state to achieve a democratic reform are considered in Bellin’s article. Bellin stresses that these variables are not enough to explain authoritarian resilience in the region nor either the success or failure of states to transition to democracy. This essay will aim to validate proposed hypotheses for authoritarianism persistence seen in class according to the outcomes of the Arab Spring. Of the four proposed hypotheses seen in class: culture, weak civil society, “the rentier state”, and “the coercive state”, the events of the Arab Uprising confirm that rentier states have the capacity to…

Now that the literature on the topic has been through an exhaustive analysis, the authoritarianism of these regimes requires a comparison. Expansion of the similarities and the differences between Mubarak and Pinochet will provide a deeper understanding of the flexibility of autocracy. Egypt and Chile are an ocean apart, literally and figuratively. The regions differ greatly in nearly all facets such as origins, geography, language, social beliefs, and countless more. Examining a Middle Eastern…

Singapore were among the poorest with underdeveloped, weak economies. However, these economies were able to grow rapidly and successfully as they were under the authoritarian regimes during their period of growth. Now, the question is: How has authoritarianism helped these states in achieving economic growth? Political stability is one of the most significant authoritarian advantages to economic growth because it allows leaders to come up with long-term planning. In the case of democratic…

The term “semi-authoritarianism” often used to describe a regime that has a skeleton of democratic institutions, yet incumbents systematically violate these institutions and other basic democratic principles that regime becomes incompatible to classify as “democratic”. Political science scholars use different terms to explain this type of regime, such as “competitive authoritarianism”, “electoral authoritarian”, and “hybrid”. In semi-authoritarian form of governance incumbents usually try to…

Science Fiction’s Perspective on Authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a form of government led by people who believe in absolute obedience or submission to their own authority, and additionally the administration of that conviction through the mistreatment of their subordinates. The stories used to compare forms of authoritarianism are “Sandkings” by George R. R. Martin and “The Little People,” a Twilight Zone episode written by Rod Stirling. The main character in “Sandkings” is Simon Kress. He…

the role of the state, the ruling elite and traditional political and civil society actors (2012). In light of these arguments, and the critique that followed from the Arab Spring, I argue that the authoritarian resilience paradigm is still useful in studying the dynamics of authoritarianism in these countries, but that it is only part of the story. Firstly, the toppling of an authoritarian leader does not mean that authoritarianism in these countries automatically has come to an end. As such…

in a continuous cycle of authoritarian regimes; only interrupted by brief periods of tumultuous democratic transitions, that were often plagued by the inability of the democratic system itself to function and ineptitude by the leaders who were in power. Therefore, by and by, Russia always turned towards authoritarianism. However, when the Soviet Union fell, it seemed as though the cycle would be broken, however once again, through exploitation of the semi-presidential system, democracy fell…

Authoritarian regimes like Russia and China keep their people on a tight leash. To do so, they will censor the media, only letting their people see what the government wants them to see. China has the Great Firewall and Russia threatens whoever speaks up against the government. This paper will analyze what an authoritarian regime is in a nutshell, how Russia deals with their media censorship, and Chinas Great Firewall. Even though they aren’t common, Authoritarian Regimes are still around…

These two pieces of writing together compose a greater framework for the fight against authoritarianism and a shift towards representational democracy without terrible institutions such as slavery through the government, utilizing morality within politics to avoid the need to go against the state. In Antigone, once Haemon and Teiresias plead with King Creon to release Antigone from her unjust sentence and it’s found that she dies in captivity, the civil cause she fights for lives on through…

Eric Liu said, power is neither good nor bad, but neutral. With these oppressive regimes, the idea of power begins to receive a negative connotation in which people view power as sinister or evil. Because of this, many people are in fact repulsed by pursuing the idea of what power may be about and obtaining an understanding of how to use power properly in society, which can demotivate or leave out a large population from engaging in the idea of politics (Liu). These authoritarian governments…