5: Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism

Question 1

What are the one dimensional classifications Schedler (1998) proposes?

Answer 1

• Authoritarian regimes
• Electoral democracies (elections, limited freedom)
• Liberal democracies (polyarchies)
• Advanced democracies

Question 2

What is the negative definition of democratic consolidation?

Answer 2

According to Schedler (1998) the definition of consolidation should be avoiding democratic breakdown (rapid death) and democratic erosion (slow death). To prevent democratic breakdown, disloyal players need to be eliminated, neutralised or converted.

Question 3

What is democratic erosion?

Answer 3

Gradual corrosion of democratic politics (slow death).

“the problem is not overthrow but erosion: the intermittent or gradual weakening of democracy by those elected to lead it.” (Huntington 1996)

> prevention trough institutional pillars.

Question 4

How can democratic errosion be avoided?

Answer 4

• State violence as well as state weakness may subvert rule of law
• Rise of hegemonic parties may suffocate electoral competition
• Decay of electoral institutions may affect honesty of voting
• Usage of state resources and mass media in ways that violate minimum standards of electoral fairness and equal opportunity
• Introduction of exclusionary citizenship laws may violate democratic norms of inclusiveness

Question 5

What are the definitions of consolidation that Schedler rejects?

Answer 5

Completing democracy and Deepening democracy are the positive definitions that according to Schedler (1998) are not democratic consolidation, rather it is transitional studies. The Neutral Usage for organising Democracy (moving from procedural minimum to concrete rules) is also rejected by him, the concept should refer only to regime continuity.

Question 6

What is democratic backsliding? (Lust and Waldner, 2015)

Answer 6

• Deterioration of democratic governance
  
  • Formal political institutions
  • Informal political practices
• Not necessarily breakdown, but significant downgrade
  
  • More than limited-scope practices (e.g. political crisis)
  • Less than democratic breakdown or regime change
• Backsliding does not always need to be remedied
  
  • Automatic safeguards
  • Consolidation (in the long run)
    (Lust and Waldner, 2015)

Question 7

What are indicators of democratic backsliding?

Answer 7

• Competitive electoral procedures (cf. Schumpeter 1942)
  
  • Principles of uncertainty, impermanence and constraint
• Civil and political liberties (cf. Dahl 1971)
  
  • Participation only meaningful under equal and guaranteed
    rights and freedoms
• Accountability (cf. James Madison)
  
  • Answerability and punishment
  • Horizontal (checks and balances) and vertical (non-state on
    state agents)

Question 8

“No bourgeoisie, no democracy” who said that?

Answer 8

(Moore 1966)

Question 9

What is an Authoritarian regime (Linz 2000)?

Answer 9

• No voice: Lack of free elections, pluralism,
  participation, permanent mobilisation
• Based on obedience, order and docility, often
  enforced by violence
• No attempt to control private sphere

Question 10

What is Totalitarianism?

Answer 10

• Different forms, same origins (Arendt 1951)
• Absolute control, isolation, no accountability, mass enthusiasm

Question 11

What are Six core characteristics (Friedrich and Brzezinski 1965) of totalitarianism?

Answer 11

• All-comprehensive ideology, incl. private sphere
• One party/person holds total power, no accountability
• Monopolistic control of weapons and violence
• Monopoly of mass communication
• Total isolation through climate of terror; impossible resistance
• Economy controlled (by state)

Question 12

What are the three pillars of Totalitarianism for Shapiro (1972)?

Answer 12

The official ideology, the
party and the state apparatus

Question 13

What are six major varieties of democratic backsliding?

Answer 13

• Positive trends
  
  • The decline of classic coup d’ ́etat
  • The decline of executive coups
  • The decline of election-day vote fraud
• Continuous challenges
  
  • Promissory coups (dashed expectations)
  • Executive aggrandisement (undercutting accountability)
  • Manipulating elections strategically

Question 14

What is democratic (de)consolidation for Linz and Stepan?

Answer 14

Deconsolidation when democracy ceases to be the only game in town.

Three main characteristics
- Popular support for democracy as system of government
- Weak or non-existent anti-system parties and movements
- Acceptance of democratic rules

It’s all about durability of democratic rule, not necessarily the
extent of democratic rule

Question 15

What did Zakaria (1997) mean by illiberal democracy?

Answer 15

Democracy is flourishing, constitutional liberalism is not. There was a rapid spread of democracy, but after elections constitutional practices are eroded, few illiberal democracies have “matured”, rather they moved towards hightend illiberalism, illiberal democracy is far from a transitional state.

Question 16

What is competitive Authoritarianism (Levitsky and Way, 2002)?

Answer 16

There are formal democratic institutions in place, it is a diminished form of authoritarianism, not democracy. They were seen as a post- cold war phenomenon, they were however far from tranitional, there is a democratizing bias, that tries to tell a unidirectional story, when in fact there is none.