What are the Core Attributes of Authoritarianism?
- Rejecting established democratic rules and norms.
- Denying the legitimacy of opponents.
- Tolerating or encouraging political violence.
- Curtailing the civil liberties of opponents.
- Breaking down social cohesion to divide and rule a society.
What are the Top 11 Elements of the Authoritarian Playbook?
- Divide and rule: Foment mistrust and fear in the population.
- Spread lies and conspiracy theories: Undermine the public’s belief in truth.
- Destroy checks and balances: Use legal or pseudo-legal rationales to gut institutions, weaken opposition, and/or declare national emergencies to seize unconstitutional powers.
- Demonize opponents: Undermine the public’s trust in those actors and institutions that hold the state accountable. Intimidate or suppress news/media outlets that fail to demonstrate sufficient loyalty to the regime.
- Undermine civil and political rights for the unaligned: Actively suppress free speech, the right to assembly and protest and the rights of minority groups.
- Blame minorities, immigrants, and “outsiders” for a country’s problems: Exploit national humiliation while promising to restore national glory.
- Reward loyalists and punish defectors: Make in-group members fearful to voice dissension.
- Encourage or condone violence to advance political goals: Dehumanize opposition and/or out-groups to justify violence against them.
- Organize mass rallies to keep supporters mobilized against made-up threats: Use fearmongering and hate speech to consolidate in-group identity and solidarity.
- Make people feel like they are powerless to change things: Solutions will only come from the top.
- Place fanatical loyalists in charge of the armed forces, law enforcement and all other aspects of state security. Their loyalty is to the regime/leader, not the rule of law or the constitution.
At this point, I believe the Trump Administration meets most, but not quite all of the above criteria.
No comments:
Post a Comment