Learning to Repress: Regional Organizations as an Authoritarian Club to Support Repression in the Post-Soviet Space

Post-Soviet organisations act like a club to support regional authoritarian regimes. Operating as a discussion forum these institutions go far beyond the basic concept of diffusion, as idea spread, becoming venues for dialogue and clearly traceable learning procedures. Through an analysis of all regional organisations in the post-Soviet space I will show that the concept of a club of authoritarian regimes is more applicable than a regional hegemon dispensing ideas to others. These organisations act as an arena for a dialogue of ideas on how to coerce and learn from the mistakes of others, or events in the post-Soviet space like the recent Euromaidan. While diffusion plays a role in authoritarian learning, what is occurring in post-Soviet regional organisations is far stronger than just the spread of ideas. These organisations operate as a venue for learning, exchange of information and support from other regional authoritarian regimes. One aspect of this is the sharing of information on repression practices which is addressed in the paper.