What authoritarianism is … and is not:* a practice perspective
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No reader of political commentary in recent years could fail to notice a concern, perhaps even a panic, about a global tide of authoritarianism that may now be affecting even established democracies. ‘How to build an autocracy’ was the ominous title of a lead article by David Frum in The Atlantic which argued that conditions are in place for ‘democratic backsliding’ … ‘down a path toward illiberalism’ in the United States.1 The Indian independent news site The Wire cautions Americans that India under the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) exemplifies how ‘a non-authoritarian state can practise everyday acts of authoritarianism’.2 And Ken Roth, Director of Human Rights Watch, has warned of a ‘new generation of authoritarian populists’, naming democratically elected leaders such as Filipino President Duterte, Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán and Indian Prime Minister Modi in the same breath as autocrats such as China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Putin and Syria’s Assad.3 Others denounce the likes of Duterte, Orbán and Modi as ‘illiberal’ leaders.4 These commentators are on to something. Their concerns are widely shared and legitimate. But professional political scientists can give little guidance as to *
The title refers to a much-cited article from 25 years ago: Philippe Schmitter and Terry Karl, ‘What democracy is … and is not’, Journal of Democracy 2: 3, 1991, pp. 75–88, which took accountability to be at the core of democracy. ** This research was supported by the project ‘Authoritarianism in a Global Age’, (http://www.authoritarianismglobal.uva.nl/), funded by the European Research Council (FP7/2007-2013)’, [grant number 323899]. I want to thank my colleagues at the University of Amsterdam and three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and encouraging comments. Previous versions of this article were presented at the First IDCAR Network Conference, Hamburg, 17–19 December 2014, the International Dimensions of Authoritarian Rule Workshop, June 2015, King’s College London, the Democracy and Democratization research department of the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, 29 June 2015, and the Authoritarianism from Afar seminar, CERI-Sciences Po, 7 July 2017. I would like to thank all the discussants and participants for their helpful comments. 1 David Frum, ‘How to build an autocracy’, The Atlantic, March 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/. (Unless otherwise stated at point of citation, all URLs cited in this article were accessible on 12 March 2018.) 2 Suvojit Chattopadhyay, ‘Non-authoritarian states can practise everyday authoritarianism too’, The Wire, 11 Jan. 2017, https://thewire.in/98642/non-authoritarian-states-can-practise-everyday-authoritarianism-too/. 3 Kenneth Roth, The dangerous rise of populism: global attacks on human rights values (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2017). 4 See e.g. Caryl Christian, ‘President Duterte’s crazy drug war is just the beginning’, Foreign Policy, 2 Nov. 2016; Aatish Taseer, ‘Modi’s illiberal new India’, Wall Street Journal, 30 June 2017. Orbán has in fact embraced the term: see ‘Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at the 25th Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp’, 26 July 2014, http://www.kormany.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/primeminister-viktor-orban-s-speech-at-the-25th-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp. International Affairs 94: 3 (2018) 515–533; doi: 10.1093/ia/iiy060 © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of International Affairs. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact: journals.permissions@oup.com
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MARLIES GLASIUS