Illiberal Ideas and Global Authoritarianism

Recent work on authoritarianism has tended to downplay the role of ideas in the development of contemporary authoritarian politics. One influential approach rather emphasized the importance of institutions in achieving resilient forms of authoritarian polity. A second theoretical framework has focused attention on economic aspects, including the role of corrupt practices and cross-border financial mechanisms in the development of ‘kleptocracies’ and ‘mafia states’. In this paper I argue that both institutional and economic frameworks underestimate the significance of ideas and ideological frameworks in the transnational expansion of authoritarian political responses to contemporary political and social challenges. A growing array of civil society groups, think-tanks, media outlets and individual activists promote a range of illiberal and anti-liberal philosophies both within and beyond state boundaries. Shared ideological positions underpin a transnational network which serves to legitimize authoritarian and illiberal politics beyond the state. In this paper I explore the array of ideologies deployed by both state and non-state actors and explore how they traverse particular cultural and political contexts.