Democracy, authoritarianism, and the limits of democratisation (original) (raw)

DEMOCRACY AND ITS IMPLICATION: A DIFFERENTIATION FROM AUTHORITARIANISM

This proposed study seeks to conduct an in depth analysis on the transition of authoritarian regime to a democratic state. It will also outline the continuation of state building process in a newly independent state. The research focuses on the elaborated role played by the civil society, media

Researching Authoritarianism in the Discipline of Democracy

Object. This article examines the ways social science research approaches the study of authoritarian regimes and identifies ways to engage with regimes that are both deliberately opaque and oppressive. Method. The article examines existing methodological prescriptions and practices as they pertain to the study of authoritarian regimes. These cover issues of data collection, research safety, subjective safety, and the positioning of knowledge about authoritarianism within the wider scope of social sciences. Results. The article identifies three distinct but interrelated challenges in the study of authoritarian regimes: (1) access and timing, (2) data validity and integrity, and (3) ethical issues. Conclusion. Methods commonly deployed in the study of democratic and open regimes cannot be readily deployed to the study of authoritarian ones. Greater reflexivity is needed to understand the methodological challenges inherent to the study of authoritarianism.

(Re)Thinking Authoritarianism in Democracy

transcript Verlag eBooks, 2022

Antisemitism (not merely hatred of Jews) imperialism (not merely conquest), totalitarianism (not merely dictatorship) ... have demonstrated that human dignity needs a new guarantee which can be found only in a new political principle, in a new law on earth, whose validity this time must comprehend the whole of humanity while its power must remain strictly limited, rooted in and controlled by newly defined territorial entities".

DEMOCRACY AND ITS IMPLICATION: DIFFERENTIATION FROM AUTHORITARIANISM

This proposed study seeks to conduct an in depth analysis on the transition of authoritarian regime to a democratic state. It will also outline the continuation of state building process in a newly independent state. The research focuses on the elaborated role played by the civil society, media and local governance which has made the state"s job easy to eradicate the problems in the path of building of nation.

Authoritarian-Led Democratization

Annual Review of Political Science

Authoritarian regimes become more likely to democratize when they face little choice or little risk. In some cases, the risk of democratization to authoritarian incumbents is so low that ending authoritarianism might not mean exiting power at all. This article develops a unified theory of authoritarian-led democratization under conditions of relatively low incumbent risk. We argue that the party strength of the authoritarian incumbent is the most pivotal factor in authoritarian-led democratization. When incumbent party strength has been substantial enough to give incumbent authoritarian politicians significant electoral victory confidence, nondemocratic regimes have pursued reversible democratic experiments that eventually culminated in stable, thriving democracies. Evidence from Europe's first wave of democratization and more recent democratic transitions in Taiwan and Ghana illustrate how party strength has underpinned authoritarian-led democratization across the world and acr...

Analysis of Democracy as a Political Tool for Authoritarian(ISM)

Innovations, 2023

The research analyzes limitations of democracy in enforcing its values and institutions in countries that have authoritarian leaders. The study delves into the political landscape of Cameroon, where leadership operates in absolute authoritarianism. It investigates electoral deficiencies and manipulations, which hinders democratic process. The research reveals that despite claims of electoral reforms in undemocratic nations, opposition parties struggle against electoral frauds. The research concludes that democracy's implementation in authoritarian regimes is compromised by concentration of power and lack of genuine oppositions, leading to a hybrid political system that exhibits authoritarian tendencies flourishing with ease within democratic structures; in other words democracy helping authoritarians to attain legitimacy.

What authoritarianism is … and is not: * a practice perspective

This article highlights three main problems with current conceptualizations of authoritarianism: they constitute a negative or residual category, focus excessively on elections and assume that authoritarianism is necessarily a state-level phenomenon. Such ‘regime classifications’ cannot help us comment intelligently on public concerns that politicians like President Rodrigo Duterte, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Viktor Orban or President Donald Trump are essentially ‘authoritarian’ leaders. This article proposes that, in order to provide political scientists with better tools to distinguish between contemporary threats to democracy and interpretations imbued by left-liberal prejudice, authoritarianism studies must be reoriented towards studying authoritarian as well as illiberal practices rather than the fairness of national elections alone. The article defines and illustrates such practices, which exist in authoritarian, democratic and transnational contexts. Comparative analysis of authoritarian and illiberal practices will help us understand conditions in which they thrive and how they are best countered.

Political Leadership Between Democracy and Authoritarianism

2022

An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. The Open Access ISBN for this book is 978-3-8474-1693-7. More information about the initiative and links to the Open Access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org