The International Sources of Authoritarian Endurance

Abstract

The last decades of the twentieth century witnessed a steady increase in the number of democracies throughout the world, and a corresponding wave of political research on the nature of and prospects for democratization. However, initial optimism about the prospects for a truly global transition to democracy were undermined by two realities: first, many authoritarian regimes seemed immune to the global trend and resisted any pressures for political reform, and second, many of those states that did begin to liberalise ultimately failed to achieve genuine democratic rule, and settled into an uneasy combination of regular elections and government abuse of power. While recent scholarship has sought to explain this authoritarian resilience, it has done so primarily with reference to the domestic features of non-democratic societies. The principal objective of this panel is to identify the ways in which international factors can support the consolidation and endurance of authoritarian regimes. Much of the existing work on the international influences on regime change and regime type explores the external dimensions of democratisation and democracy. This panel will address the under-explored question of how external influences might instead undermine democracy and encourage and reinforce of autocracy. Examples of international variables that can promote authoritarian politics include the diffusion effects of authoritarianism in neighbouring countries, as well as the policies of influential authoritarian 'sponsors', who can encourage or reinforce authoritarian rule by providing rhetorical and material assistance to anti-democratic forces. The panel aims to explore the role of these and other international influences on authoritarian politics in a range of diverse settings.

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