Authoritarian rule — the suppression of political freedoms — is a global threat that can derail democracy. Its rise demands a strong response. Understanding exactly what authoritarians do and why people support them can help to refocus efforts to protect democracies from their relentless assault.
Amid the growing global trend toward authoritarian rule, a number of Jackson School experts are identifying and disseminating new tools that can help counter it. This article explains some of those tactics.
Traditionally, authoritarians bent on upending democracy would seize power in a sudden coup d’etat. Today, however, they often come to power more gradually by slicing away democracy’s foundations a bit at a time. The result is a slow but steady erosion of democratic principles and practices that can be hard to see until it is too late.
Authoritarians use a playbook of tactics to consolidate their grip on power: Curtailing the civil liberties of opponents; fomenting mistrust and fear in the population; spreading lies and conspiracies; gutting institutions; weakening opposition; declaring national emergencies to rewrite laws and seize unconstitutional powers; and stacking competing institutions with lackeys and cronies. They also bolster their legitimacy by promoting a cult of personality and aggrandizing the trappings of office, while denigrating checks and balances as corrupt obstacles to the popular will.
People who identify with right-wing populist parties in Europe and North America are more likely to support authoritarian ways of governing. But, regardless of party or ideology, everyone can help stop the spread of autocracy by helping to form large, diverse, and cross-partisan pro-democracy fronts and movements with a clear strategy and concrete goals.
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