{"id":1153,"date":"2021-12-04T08:15:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T13:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/extraocadsmhr\/?post_type=chapter&p=1153"},"modified":"2022-02-14T19:06:25","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T00:06:25","slug":"autocracies-that-look-like-democracies-are-a-threat-across-the-globe","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/extraocadsmhr\/chapter\/autocracies-that-look-like-democracies-are-a-threat-across-the-globe\/","title":{"raw":"2a. \"Autocracies that look like democracies are a threat across the globe\" (Short news article)","rendered":"2a. “Autocracies that look like democracies are a threat across the globe” (Short news article)"},"content":{"raw":"

Introduction to the article \"Autocracies that look like democracies are a threat across the globe<\/a><\/span>\"<\/span><\/h1>\r\nFrancis Fukuyama's iconic book, The End of History and the Last Man<\/em>, predicted that liberal democracy would be the logical endpoint for all forms of government.\r\n\r\nThe collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of communist rule in the U.S.S.R. seemed to prove Fukuyama right.\r\n\r\nBut decades later, is Fukuyama's provocative prediction still true?\r\n\r\nIn \"Autocracies that look like democracies are a threat across the globe,\" the author Richard Carney looks at authoritarian regimes around the world that seem like democracies, but really are not.\r\n\r\nBy revisiting the essential elements of democracies and autocracies, we have a better idea of both terms. We also are more prepared to distinguish countries that might be pretending to be more democratic than they really are.\r\n\r\n
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Autocracies that look like democracies are a threat across the globe<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\r\nRichard Carney,\u00a0<\/span>The Conversation<\/em>, February 6, 2019 6:42am EST\r\n\r\n<\/span>Russia\u2019s successful interference<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in the 2016 U.S. presidential election may inspire other countries to do the same.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThese other countries don\u2019t look threatening. They look like democracies. But they\u2019re not.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThey\u2019re a special kind of autocratic regime that masquerades as a democracy. And what looks like benevolent conduct by these countries can quickly change into aggressive, politically charged behavior.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAutocracies, often known as \u201cauthoritarian regimes,\u201d maintain power through centralized control over information and resources. Political opposition is either forbidden or strongly curtailed and individual freedom is limited by the state.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAutocracies that look like democracies are different because their leaders permit political opponents to run for election \u2013 even though they rarely win.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThese countries\u2019 capitalist systems have some of the trappings of liberal democracies in the West. But these regimes use capitalism to further their authoritarian rule.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThese so-called \u201cdominant party authoritarian regimes\u201d have surged in number from around 13 percent of all countries before the end of the Cold War to around<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>33 percent today<\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nMost are located in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. They are also present in Eastern Europe and in the Americas. Russia is one of them; so are Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore and Venezuela.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThese regimes often engage in the same kinds of bad behavior as other autocracies. But their behavior is critically different in both the motivations and methods used to further authoritarian ends, as detailed in my new book \u201c<\/span>Authoritarian Capitalism<\/a><\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\r\n
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Political control<\/h2>\r\nPart of the danger with dominant party authoritarian regimes is that their veneer of democracy permits political opponents to run for election. But when incumbent rulers face a threat to their power, the autocrats often respond by targeting political dissidents and taking aggressive actions toward foreign enemies to bolster popular support.\r\n\r\nFor example, Russian leader Vladimir Putin faced an unprecedented challenge from\u00a0<\/span>citizen protests during the 2012 presidential election<\/a><\/span>. The protests continued into 2013.\r\n\r\nPutin punished the protesters. New York Times correspondent\u00a0<\/span>Ellen Barry reported in 2013<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that \u201cnew laws prescribe draconian punishments for acts of dissent. \u2026 Mr. Putin \u2026 embraced a new, sharply conservative rhetoric, dismissing the urban protesters as traitors and blasphemers, enemies of Russia.\u201d\r\n\r\nShortly afterward, Russia\u2019s foreign activities became even more\u00a0<\/span>belligerent than during the Soviet period<\/a><\/span>. This accomplished just what Putin wanted: Following his annexation of Crimea in 2014, his approval ratings\u00a0<\/span>skyrocketed<\/a><\/span>.\r\n\r\nAnother recent example is Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s repression of\u00a0<\/span>domestic political dissidents<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>following the failed July 2016 coup against him. According to The Guardian, the regime arrested or suspended \u201cmore than 110,000 officials, including judges, teachers, police and civil servants.\u201d\r\n\r\nErdogan went after foreign-based dissidents too, allegedly orchestrating a plot to kidnap opposition leader\u00a0<\/span>Fetullah Gulen<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>from Pennsylvania.\r\n\r\nAnd while he won the presidential election in June 2018, Erdogan\u2019s foreign-based critics remain concerned about his threats.\u00a0<\/span>Enes Kanter<\/a><\/span>, a Turkish NBA star, declined to travel to London in January 2019 out of fear that Turkish spies might kill him.\r\n
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Information control<\/h2>\r\nAnother distinction that characterizes dominant party authoritarian regimes is how they exploit Western legal and financial systems against Western media outlets critical of the regime.\r\n\r\nNormally,\u00a0<\/span>autocrats control information and resources<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>to retain power. But rather than relying on the typical autocrat\u2019s crude hostile attacks or outright censorship, dominant party authoritarian regimes use legal or financial methods regarded as legitimate by the West.\r\n\r\nIn other words, they sue the media or they buy them.\r\n\r\nA slew of foreign news organizations \u2013 including\u00a0<\/span>The New York Times<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Bloomberg<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>The Economist<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 were sued by the Lee family, autocratic rulers of Singapore, for political and financial reporting after the 2008 global financial crisis.\r\n\r\nThe family maintained the coverage defamed them. As the Wall Street Journal\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>editors wrote in 2008<\/a><\/span>, \u201cWe know of no foreign publication that has ever won in a Singapore court of law. Virtually every Western publication that circulates in the city-state has faced a lawsuit, or the threat of one.\u201d\r\n\r\nMalaysian political authorities deployed similar tactics when their rulers felt threatened.\r\n\r\nFollowing the Asian financial crisis of 1997, and in the months leading up to the November 1999 general election, wealthy ruling party supporters in Malaysia filed a flurry of\u00a0defamation lawsuits<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>against foreign journalists and media organizations, such as the Asian Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.\r\n\r\nRussia\u2019s means of pressuring foreign media are slightly different, but they also involve taking advantage of Western legal-financial systems.\r\n\r\nRussia has engaged in\u00a0<\/span>disinformation campaigns<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that exploit weaknesses in the West\u2019s freedom of speech protections, as documented by experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and at the Center for the Study of Democracy.\r\n\r\nAnd Russian companies have acquired sufficiently large\u00a0<\/span>ownership stakes<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in foreign media companies to influence their operations.\r\n\r\nThis has involved both the manipulation of their coverage and a reduction in media freedoms of the country in which they are located.\r\n\r\nFor example,\u00a0<\/span>Delyan Peevski<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>is a controversial member of the Bulgarian Parliament who advocated for pro-Russian policies. Peevski built and sustained a media empire that controls around 40 percent of Bulgaria\u2019s print sector and 80 percent of the newspaper distribution with loans from a partially Russian-owned bank.\r\n

Resource control<\/h2>\r\nIn contrast to firms located in other types of autocracies, state-controlled businesses in dominant party authoritarian regimes often comply with international financial regulations. This helps them gain access to Western countries\u2019 corporate and financial systems.\r\n\r\nUnder cover of legitimate business operations, their autocratic leaders can pursue political objectives with less scrutiny.\r\n\r\nMalaysia\u2019s state-owned investment fund,\u00a0<\/span>1MDB<\/a><\/span>, engaged in\u00a0<\/span>aggressive investment tactics<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>with corrupt practices \u2013 including \u201cabnormally high payback\u201d for investment bankers \u2013 that extended across the globe.\r\n\r\nThe U.S. accuses former Prime Minister Najib Razak\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>family friend<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of masterminding the theft of US$2 billion from the fund. And its capital was also\u00a0<\/span>channeled to politicians and projects<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to help the ruling party win the 2013 elections.\r\n\r\nRussia has also used\u00a0<\/span>state-linked companies<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to gain influence over Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria\u2019s crucial energy sectors via purchases of ownership stakes in listed companies.\r\n\r\nThis granted the Russian state access to other key sectors of these economies, such as finance and telecommunications.\u00a0<\/span>Russia then was able to influence government policies<\/a><\/span>.\r\n\r\nIn one case, the Serbian government\u00a0<\/span>chose not to enforce the European Union\u2019s sanctions against Russia<\/a><\/span>. That was a risk for Serbia, because it has wanted to qualify for European Union membership by 2025.\r\n\r\nEven bolder actions occurred with Russia\u2019s interference in the U.S. 2016 presidential election.\r\n\r\nMichael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, told the Senate in September 2018 that never before had the Kremlin violated American sovereignty so\u00a0<\/span>\u201cillegally, aggressively and audaciously\u201d<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 even during the high-stakes rivalry of the Cold War.\r\n\r\nIt is now common knowledge that\u00a0<\/span>Russian-controlled agencies and businesses<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>played a strategically vital role in the election interference.\r\n

Resisting influence<\/h2>\r\nCan democracies defend themselves against such aggressive regimes?\r\n\r\nThe \u201cKremlin Playbook<\/a><\/span>,\u201d written by Heather A. Conley, James Mina, Ruslan Stefanov and Martin Vladimirov, is an extensive study of Russian influence in Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Serbia. It provides a detailed list of policy recommendations to resist Russian influence that can be applied to other dominant party authoritarian regimes.\r\n\r\nThey include strengthening intelligence gathering and cooperation between the U.S. and its allies; increasing U.S. and allied governments\u2019 assistance to vulnerable countries; and stronger protections for and enforcement of transparency measures.\r\n\r\nBut I believe an important addition to this list is the need to monitor the strength of the ruling party\u2019s hold on power. That\u2019s because aggressive, politically charged activities are most likely to occur when incumbent rulers face an elevated threat.\r\n\r\nWith its attack on the U.S. 2016 election, Russia showed that it\u2019s possible to interfere destructively in the most powerful Western democracy. I expect that other autocracies that look like democracies will follow suit \u2013 across the globe.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Quiz<\/h2>\r\nQuiz on \"Autocracies that look like democracies are a threat across the globe<\/a><\/span>\"<\/strong>\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"88\"]\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"89\"]\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"90\"]\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"91\"]\r\n\r\n
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