Conceptualising Democracy Prevention: The International Repertoire of Authoritarian Regimes

Fundamental, often contradictory international developments have – in conjunction with well-established regime-level factors – become of crucial relevance for the persistence of current authoritarian regimes. Among them are ever-increasing processes globalization, technological advancements and signs of increased authoritarian cooperation. Authoritarian regimes actively try to prevent the further spread of democracy. To explore these international dimensions of authoritarian rule, this paper provides conceptual framing for different aspects of democracy prevention; (1) the fundamental difference between the international posture of authoritarian and democratic regimes; (2) the difference between authoritarianism promotion and democracy prevention; (3) the relationship between varying authoritarian regime types and their democracy prevention policies; (4) the potential effects of similarity and proximity; (5) unintentional and intentional forms of authoritarian influence; and (6) democracy prevention in normal times and in crisis situations.