Research framework and broader academic knowledge base
Serbia: documented application of the same framework
How can we distinguish authoritarian rule from populism, corruption, or simply bad governance?
Populism represents politics as a conflict between the “right people” and the corrupt elites; it can remain within democratic limits, but it becomes dangerous when the courts, the media and the opposition declare themselves enemies of the people because they limit the leader.
Corruption is an abuse of public power for private gain and can also exist in a democracy if it is investigated, punished and if the government can lose elections because of it. Bad governance means incompetence, waste or failure. Authoritarian power is recognized by something else: citizens can increasingly find it harder to detect abuse, limit the government, punish it and replace it peacefully. That is why the question is not only whether the government steals, mistakes or deceives, but whether there is an independent way to stop.
Researches sometimes call different phenomena in the same words. First you need to describe what is really happening, and only then choose a name.
Works supporting this answer, with their evidence type and an explanation of how they relate to the claim.
Explain how the system works
Linz, J. J. (2000), Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes, Lynne Rienner.
- Contribution to this answer
- Linz gives the criteria by which authoritarianism differs from other problems of mismanagement: the essence is in the organization of political competition, accountability and the boundaries of government, not in whether a decision is bad or whether there is corruption.
comparison of different combinations of conditions
Maerz, S. F. (2020), „The Many Faces of Authoritarian Persistence“, Government and Opposition 55(1): 64–87.
- Contribution to this answer
- Maerz on 62 regimes shows that authoritarian authorities survive with different combinations of repression, co-optation and legitimation. There is not one universal authoritarian recipe nor one single feature that defines it.
review more research
Ginsburg, T. i Huq, A. Z. (2018), How to Save a Constitutional Democracy, University of Chicago Press.
- Contribution to this answer
- Ginsburg and Huq show that the central mechanism of democratic erosion is the weakening of the limits of executive power, free political competition and rights. The Constitution can therefore also slow down erosion and be used to legalize it.
comparing several countries or cases
Carothers, C. (2022), „Taking Authoritarian Anti-Corruption Reform Seriously“, Perspectives on Politics 20(1): 69–85.
- Contribution to this answer
- Carothers shows that autocracy and corruption are not the same thing: some authoritarian authorities can really seriously reduce certain forms of corruption through centralized, top-level control. That is why the lack of corruption is not a proof of democracy.
Development and verification of measurement methods
Hanson, J. K. i Sigman, R. (2021), „Leviathan’s Latent Dimensions: Measuring State Capacity for Comparative Political Research“, Journal of Politics 83(4): 1495–1510.
- Contribution to this answer
- Hanson and Sigman separate the fiscal, coercive and administrative capacity of the state. A capable or efficient state is therefore not the same as a democratic state, just as a bad public administration is not in itself a proof of authoritarianism.
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