Autocracy
Chapter 2 - Society
Previous page: Democracy - Autocracy - Next page: Conservative liberalism
Back to Book content or directly to Main Page
.
Welcome to the autocracy page
.
Autocracy, while it is contrasted with democracy, is a form of government in which absolute power is held by the head of state and government, known as an autocrat. It includes some forms of monarchy and all forms of dictatorship.
(It should be clear that the author of Business Acumen does not endorse autocracy in any of its forms.)
.
Core ideas
.
Autocracy
Three-quarters of the world's population lives under an autocratic regime.
This is due to growing socio-economic inequality between population groups, which was exacerbated by two major financial crises and the aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, climate change and many wars have created a certain fear for the future, reminiscent of the 1930s. People living under an autocratic regime lack:
Freedom of expression
Freedom of expression also includes freedom of education. It is also suppressed by threatening political opponents.
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press is on par with freedom of expression. And freedom of expression is indeed under threat. Government members, who also have an exemplary function, are constantly trying to undermine the credibility of established media. The vast majority of the population in the West gets their news from social media. We know that they are full of lies and disinformation. Plus, everything is pre-formed by algorithms that determine what people want to hear.
Free elections
You can have free and fair elections, but it is of little use if elected officials no longer have any power. When the reach of the executive power is expanded, and the legislative power does nothing to counter it, that is an essential characteristic of an electoral autocracy. There is still a popular representation on paper, but it no longer functions as a brake on the president. Which makes the people's vote – although perhaps cast in free elections – toothless.
Separation of powers and free jurisdiction
Sowing doubt clearly initiates the erosion of the judiciary. This also happens by labelling judges as 'left-wing radical lunatics' or by bluntly stating that courts may not curtail the executive power.
A functioning civil society
In a normal democracy, a government has social institutions such as trade unions, patient federations, and SME associations as important discussion partners.
The principle of equality and non-discrimination
The way big money influences political campaigns creates an uneven playing field.
.
| Content source |
|---|
| Staffan Lindberg - V-Dem |
.
Deep dive
.
The rise of autocratic leaders
- Us/Them-ing is fundamental to humans and promotes cooperation toward Us but crappier behaviour toward Them
- Social comparison is fundamental to human; it can promote judgment, biases and competitive behaviour
- Own values, prestige and power trigger prejudices when feeling threatened
- Power tends to emphasize the convergence of the hierarchies and the importance of assimilating the values of the core hierarchy
- Do-gooder derogation appears when doing good seems too costly
- Altruistic punishment (punishment with a cost for the punisher) appears when the perceived threats from Them transcend a threshold
- Altruistic punishment effectively enforces cooperation among the ingroup
.
Threats from Thems make autocratic societies more internally cooperative
We consider here WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic) countries, with on the one hand the 'Egalitarian Community-driven Pluralism' thinking and, on the other hand, a 'Social Dominance Orientation / Right-Wing Authoritarianism' culture.
.
Step 1ː 'Us-Them' thinking
We live in a hyper-connected world with the possibility of migrating faster than ever. Migrants no longer come individually but in more significant numbers, sharpening the 'Us-Them' thinking.
Most people tend to adopt a moderate 'Egalitarian Community-driven Pluralism' attitude as long as their upper limit of 'Us-Them' thinking is not reached in society. We know this from the beginning of the "Wir Schaffen Das" thinking in Germany.
But the threshold value of this is under pressure.
Step 2ː The burden of doing good
The first hurdle is the effort it takes to do good. Added to this is the mental pain (this can be as strong as physical pain) that comes from the community or others asking to do good. When this burden becomes too much to bear, the mood changes to an extra level of 'Us-Them' thinking, 'elite good-doers' versus 'Us'.
Which triggers a downward spiral.
Step 3ː Threat
'Them' becomes an economic threat, and 'Us' becomes increasingly afraid of 'Them as different people'.
But, individually punishing 'Them' is very costly.
Step 4ː Solution
There is a solution: altuïstic punishment. We outsource punishment, even when it comes with a cost.
Step 5ː The positive trade-off
The trade-off is positive:
- Only one little costː support the 'Social Dominance Orientation / Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and
- you will have no more personal burden from 'Egalitarian Community-driven Pluralism' asking to do good and no more burden of needing to punish others yourself.
'Right-Wing Authoritarianism' says that they will punish the elite (those who ask you to do good) and 'Them' who threaten you in your existence.
Step 6ː The ease of an autocratic regime
The human energy cost of living under an autocratic regime is much lower than the energy spent on continuing to do good under the threat of fear-inducing 'Thems'.
In WEIRD countries, an institutional (autocratic) punisher, punishing free riders for you, is preferred.
Step 7ː The promise of the autocratic regime
'Thems' are given one choice: adopt our values and standards or leave. The common belief is that punishing 'Thems' leads to cooperation with 'Us' through embracing our values and norms.
This will remove the threat to 'Us'.
Step 8ː The danger of an autocratic regime
Because the community has given away a large part of its power to the regime through the principle of 'altruistic punishment', the regime will do everything to make this appear as 'democratic punishment'.
But with the powertransfer also comes the supervision of the values and norms in the community.
.
What science can tell you
.
| Cas Mudde - The Populist Zeitgeist - Government and Opposition - 2004 |
|---|
Since the 1980s the rise of so-called ‘populist parties’ has given rise to thousands of books, articles, columns and editorials. This article aims to make a threefold contribution to the current debate on populism in liberal democracies.
|
| I have defined populism as an ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, ‘the pure people’ versus ‘the corrupt elite’, and which argues that politics should be an expression of the volonté générale (general will) of the people. |
| Populist discourse has become mainstream in the politics of contemporary western democracies. I have called this the populist Zeitgeist. True, most mainstream parties mainly use populist rhetoric, but some also call for populist amendments to the liberal democratic system (most notably through the introduction of plebiscitary instruments). |
| I have argued that the explanations of and the reactions to the current populist Zeitgeist are seriously flawed. Much of the recently proposed solutions have been inspired by the populist critique of the New Left in the 1970s and 1980s, which differs fundamentally from that of the 1990s (in supply and demand). In sharp contrast to the earlier period, contemporary populists favour output over input and leadership over participation. Consequently, these reactions are not just flawed, they can become counter-productive, i.e. strengthening the populist challenge rather than weakening it. |
| https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/government-and-opposition/article/populist-zeitgeist/2CD34F8B25C4FFF4F322316833DB94B7 |
.
Do you want to know more?
.
| Who DIS |
|---|
| WhoDis is a flagship initiative launched by Justice for Prosperity and developed together with TextGain. It uses Artificial Intelligence, a topical subject in the fight against misinformation and online subversion. By exposing the actors’ tactics of spreading hate conspiracies, WhoDis is one step ahead of them. |
| https://whodis.org/ |
.
| The PopuList |
|---|
| The PopuList offers academics and journalists an overview of populist, far-left and far-right parties in Europe from 1989 until 2022. |
| https://popu-list.org/ |
.