Chapter 8: Non-democratic Regimes

Defining Non-democratic Rule

Nondemocracy Defined

• Regimes that lack democracy; sometimes called authoritarianism
• Authoritarianism: a political system in which a small group of individuals exercises power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public
• Non-democratic regime: a political regime that is controlled by a small group of individuals who exercise power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public

The Common Features of Nondemocratic Regimes

In Focus: Non-democratic Regimes

• A small group of individuals exercise power over the state.
• Government is not constitutionally responsible to the public.
• The public has little or no role in selecting leaders.
• Individual freedom is restricted.
• Non-democratic regimes may be institutionalized and legitimate.

Totalitarianism and Non-democratic Rule

Totalitarianism versus Authoritarianism

• Not all authoritarian regimes are totalitarian!
• The term totalitarianism is frequently misused.
  • Some call for abandoning the term.
• Totalitarianism: a nondemocratic regime that is highly centralized, possessing some form of strong ideology that seeks to transform and absorb fundamental aspects of state, society, and the economy, using a wide array of institutions
  • Capacity rather than a way of governance

The Key Features of Totalitarianism

In Focus: Totalitarian Regimes…

• Seek to control and transform all aspects of the state, society, and economy.
• Use violence as a tool for remaking institutions.
• Have a strong ideological goal.
• Have arisen relatively rarely.

Totlitarianism’s Goals

• Fulfill some historical destiny
• Individual is completely subordinated to the goals of the state
• Early uses (1920s):
  • Carl Schmitt: Totalstaat
  • Italian fascists (Mussolini)
  • Believed liberal democracy was outdated

Totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century

Key factors for regime success:

• Cult of personality
  • Personality cults: veneration of leadership
  • Quasi-religious; emotional appeal to legitimize rule
  • Leader depiction
  • Embodies spirit of the nation
  • Endowed with wisdom and strength far beyond average individual
  • Active use of media and art to reinforce this image
  • Examples
  • Iran (Supreme Leader)
  • Russia (Vladimir Putin)
  • North Korea (Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un)
• Systematic use of terror
  • The Soviet Union under Stalin
  • The entire economy under state control
  • Used systematic terror and a developed cult of personality
  • Hitler’s Germany
  • A strong, centralized regime which used fascist ideology, violence, and terror
  • Attempted to eliminate ethnic groups to create a homogenous state
  • Social organizations were placed under the Nazi Party’s control; economy remained private
  • Mao’s China
  • Most elements of society placed under state control and systematic terror was employed to maintain control and power
  • Mao cultivated his image as an infallible and godlike ruler
  • Unlike Stalin, Mao’s totalitarian regime failed to modernize China and caused economic stagnation and international isolation
• Exertion of state control over economic, political, and civil society

What is Authoritarianism?

• Definition: Regimes that lack pluralism (i.e. legitimate ideological alternatives to state ideology) and are governed by a stable core person, or group of people who attempt to maintain some degree of public legitimacy.

• Contrast with totalitarianism (Juan Linz definition):

  1. Limited political pluralism
  2. No official ideology (but “mentalities”)
  3. Much less mobilization, more depoliticization
  4. “a leader or occasionally a small group exercises power within formally ill-defined limits but actually quite predictable ones”

Goal of Authoritarian Leaders

1. Stay in power
2. If possible, solve societal problems
   • Not necessarily in ways prescribed by rigid, unchanging ideologies
   • More practical
3. Get rich
   • Monopolies over resources
   • More control over their distribution
4. Origins and Sources of Non-democratic Rule

Possible Explanations for Nondemocratic Rule

• Modernization
• Elites
• Civil society
• International relations
• Political culture

Modernization and Nondemocratic Rule

• Old thinking
  • Development leads to urbanization and education, which, in turn, leads the middle-class to demand democracy.
• New thinking
  • Modernization sometimes reinforces nondemocracy.
  • Modernization can be a disruptive and uneven process.
  • Urbanization transforms institutions and norms.
  • Technology can leave some behind.
  • Economies and job markets shift.
  • Social values and gender relations change.
• Nondemocratic leaders promise stability and order.

Elites and Nondemocratic Rule

• Entrenched elites are unwilling to share power.
• May be reinforced by resource curse.
  • Resource curse: theory of development in which the existence of natural resources in a given state is a barrier to modernization and democratization
  • Resource curse basics
  • State generates resources without taxation.
  • Unequal development stunts civil society.
  • Resources are not portable, so control of resources requires controlling the state.

Society and Nondemocratic Rule

• Weak civil society may allow nondemocracy to survive.
• Example: the different paths of Zimbabwe and South Africa
• A strong civil society may emerge, but still
  • Promote nondemocratic values.
  • Populism: a political view that does not have a consistent ideological foundation, but that emphasizes hostility toward elites and established state and economic institutions and favors greater power in the hands of the public
  • Take on nondemocratic tendencies.
  • Ethnic favoritism, xenophobia
  • Example: Hungary’s Viktor Orban

International Relations and Nondemocratic Rule

• International actors influence regime type through
  • Foreign occupation
  • Imperial legacy
  • Backing nondemocratic forces.
• Examples
  • Cold War Era
  • USSR in Eastern Europe
  • United States in Iran (1953) or Chile (1973)
  • More recently: China and Russia in Africa and the Middle East

Culture and Nondemocratic Rule

• Old thinking
  • Democracy is a Western/Christian construct.
  • Values of individualism and secularism may not translate into other regions.
• Counter argument
  • Every major cultural region of the world has democracy.
  • Asia: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan
  • MENA (Islamic World): Tunisia, Northern Cyprus
  • Culture shapes the form of democracy; it doesn’t determine its presence or absence.

Non-democratic Regimes and Political Control

How Do Authoritarian Leaders Maintain Political Control?

• Coercion
• Co-optation
• Personality cults

Coercion and Surveillance

• Coercion: compelling individuals by threatening their lives or livelihoods
  • Relies on the use of fear to discourage opposition
  • Tactics include killing, torture, job loss, threats to family.
• Can be targeted or indiscriminate violence
• Often relies on surveillance to identify targets

Examples of Coercion

• Latin America
  • 1970s-1980s: “Death squads” arrested, tortured, and killed individuals suspected of harboring political views opposing the views.
  • Argentina’s “Dirty War” saw 30,000 people “disappeared.”
  • Death squads and their tactics have spread to many nondemocracies including Egypt, Zimbabwe, and Syria.
• Soviet Union/Russia
  • Stalin’s widespread use of arrests, show trials, and forced labor camps
  • Putin’s use of targeted lawsuits and fines to deter civil society.
• US government aided allied dictators in Latin America
• Often trained and funded death squads
• Target: “communists”

The Limits of Coercion

• It can undermine regime legitimacy.
• It may create more widespread grievances.
• It is costly to maintain.
• At least some people have to benefit from the regime, or there would be no soldiers to carry out the orders.

Co-optation

• Co-optation: the process by which individuals outside an organization are brought into a beneficial relationship with the state
  • Selectively provide benefits to key groups
  • Make population dependent on state for certain rewards
• Two forms
  • Corporatism
  • Clientelism

Co-Optation Strategy 1: Corporatism

• Corporatism: a method by which nondemocratic regimes attempted to solidify their control over the public by creating or sanctioning a limited number of organizations to represent the interests of the public and restricting those not set up or approved by the state; a method of co-optation whereby authoritarian systems create or sanction a limited number of organizations to represent the interests of the public and restrict those not set up or approved by the state
• Examples:
  • Spain/Portugal syndicates (1970s)
  • China’s limitations on religious groups

Idea behind Clientelism

• “As long as [The Prince] does not rob the great majority of their property or their honour, they remain content. He then has to contend only with the restlessness of a few, and that can be dealt with easily and in a variety of ways.” - Niccolo Machiavelli

Co-optation Strategy 2: Clientelism

• Clientelism: The state co-opts members of the public by providing specific benefits or favors to a single person or small group in return for public support
• State may reward supporters with jobs, goods, and/or rent-seeking.
  • Rent-seeking: a process in which political leaders essentially use parts of the state to extract income for their supporters, giving them preferred access to public goods that would otherwise be distributed in a nonpolitical manner
  • Can decline into kleptocracy: “rule by theft,” where those in power seek only to drain the state of assets and resources

Personality Cults

• Personality cults: veneration of leadership
  • Quasi-religious; emotional appeal to legitimize rule
• Leader depiction
  • Embodies spirit of the nation
  • Endowed with wisdom and strength far beyond average individual
  • Active use of media and art to reinforce this image
• Examples
  • Iran (Supreme Leader)
  • Russia (Vladimir Putin)
  • North Korea (Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un)

Wrapping It Up: The Tactics of Control

In Focus: Nondemocratic Means of Control

• Coercion: public obedience is enforced through violence and surveillance.
• Co-optation: members of the public are brought into a beneficial relationship with the state and government, often through corporatism or clientelism.
• Personality cult: the public is encouraged to obey the leader, based on his or her extraordinary qualities and compelling ideas.

Models of Non-democratic Rule

Types of Nondemocracies

• Personal and monarchial rule
• Military rule
• One-party rule
• Theocracy
• Illiberal or hybrid regimes

Personal and Monarchial Rule

• (Most often) rule by one leader
  • Ancient regime type
  • State and society are possessions of the ruler
• Examples
  • Mobuto Sese Seko (Zaire/Democractic Republic of the Congo)
  • Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus)
• Main tool of control: patrimonalism
  • Patrimonialism: an arrangement whereby a ruler depends on a collection of supporters within the state who gain direct benefits in return for enforcing the ruler’s will
  • Clientelism and personal networks

Military Rule

• Rule by one or military officials
• Often brought to power through coup d’état
• Sometimes follows periods of unrest; military leaders promise stability
• Examples:
  • Chile (1970s)
  • Egypt since 2011
• Main tool of control: coercion
• May focus on technocratic rule
• Bureaucratic authoritarianism: a system in which the state bureaucracy and the military share a belief that a technocratic leadership, focused on rational, objective, and technical expertise, can solve the problems of the country without public participation

One-Party Rule

• A single political party monopolizes politics.
  • All other parties are banned/excluded from power.
  • No area is untouched by the presence of the party, helping the party to maintain control over the public.
• Main tools of control: co-optation
  • Corporatism and/or clientelism
• Examples: China
  • Newspapers, youth organizations, unions are linked to Communist Party.
  • Party chooses those in office.

Chinese National People’s Congress

• Seats
• Chinese Communist Party: 2097
• Jiusan Society: 63
• China Democratic League: 57
• China National Democratic Construction Association: 57
• Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party: 54
• Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang: 44
• China Zhi Gong Party: 38
• Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League: 13
• Independent: 472

Ethiopian Parliament

• 547 members
• Yellow: Prosperity Party
• Red: TPLF (Banned in January 2021)

Theocracy

• “Rule by God”
  • Religion as the foundation of the regime
• Main tools of control
  • Traditional legitimacy
  • Corporatism
• No purse cases of modern theocracies
  • Saudi Arabia: combines theocratic and monarchic
  • The Islamic Republic of Iran: mostly theocratic, some illiberal regime features

Iranian Theocracy: Totalitarian, Authoritarian, or Illiberal?

• Secular monarchy overthrown in 1929; replaced with theocratic regime
• Islamic criteria instilled in all aspects of society via the constitution
• Directly elected president
• Supreme leader appointed for life by Assembly of Experts; has power over government
• An unelected Guardian Council oversees both elections and parliament
• The judicial system enforces religious law
• Regime can be viewed as totalitarian, but it lacks capacity to destroy and remake existing institutions
• It is not a fully illiberal regime, as there are elections, but candidates are regularly rejected

Illiberal Regimes

• Illiberal regimes: also known as hybrid, electoral authoritarian, and semi-democratic regime where democratic institutions that rest on the rule of law are weakly institutionalized and poorly respected
  • Combine democratic and nondemocratic elements
  • Growing in prominence around the world
• Examples: Russia, Venezuela
• Common features
  • Weak or poorly respected rule of law
  • Executives hold an overwhelming degree of power.
  • Elections are manipulated.
  • Few civil rights or individual freedoms.

Wrapping It Up: Types of Nondemocratic Rule

In Focus: Types of Nondemocratic Rule

An Era of Democratic Backsliding

• More democracies now than 30 years ago
• But democracy in decline over last decade
• Partly free transitioning to not free
• Some “free” societies becoming less free

Authoritarian Breakdown

• Domestic
  • Economic crisis
  • Economic/political reforms backfire
  • E.g., Partial liberalization “Accidental” full liberalization
    • USSR
  • Military leaves government/turns against government
• International
  • Pressure from allies/donors to democratize
  • Uprisings in other countries inspire people to rise up
  • E.g., Arab Spring, Eastern European revolutions

In Sum: Retreat or Retrenchment for Non-democratic Regimes?

• Nondemocracy refers to a broad category of states.
• The upheaval of modernization, elite resource control, societal structures, international actors, and culture may reinforce nondemocratic rule.
• Nondemocratic regimes may rely on coercion, co-optation, or personality cults to maintain control.
• Major categories of nondemocratic rule include monarchies, military rule, one-party states, theocracies, and illiberal regimes.
• While there are more democracies now than there were 30 years ago, nondemocracy has been on the rise in recent years.

Key Terms

1. Authoritarianism: a political system in which a small group of individuals exercises power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public
2. Bureaucratic authoritarianism - a system in which the state bureaucracy and the military share a belief that a technocratic leadership, focused on rational, objective, and technical expertise, can solve the problems of the country without public participation
3. Clientelism - a process whereby the state co-opts members of the public by providing specific benefits or favors to a single person or a small group in return for public support
4. Corporatism - a method of co-optation whereby authoritarian systems create or sanction a limited number of organizations to represent the interests of the public and restrict those not set up or approved by the state
5. Illiberal regime - a regime where democratic institutions that rest upon the rule of law are weakly institutionalized and poorly respected
6. Kleptocracy - “rule by theft,” where those in power seek only to drain the state of assets and resources
7. Nondemocratic regime - a political regime that is controlled by a small group of individuals who exercise power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public
8. Patrimonialism - an arrangement whereby a ruler depends on a collection of supporters within the state who gain direct benefits in return for enforcing the ruler’s will
9. Populism - a political view that does not have a consistent ideological foundation, but that emphasizes hostility toward elites and established state and economic institutions and favors greater power in the hands of the public
   10. Rent seeking - a process in which political leaders essentially use parts of the state to extract income for their supporters, giving them preferred access to public goods that would otherwise be distributed in a nonpolitical manner
   11. Resource trap - theory of development in which the existence of natural resources in a given state is a barrier to modernization and democracy
   12. Totalitarianism - a nondemocratic regime that is highly centralized, possessing some form of strong ideology that seeks to transform and absorb fundamental aspects of state, society, and the economy, using a wide array of institutions