Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism refers both to a type of government and to an outlook that favors strong, centralized authority over political pluralism. In an authoritarian system, power sits with one leader, a party, a military group or a monarch who is not effectively accountable to voters, courts or a free press. Opposition parties are banned or tightly restricted, and civil liberties are limited. Unlike totalitarian regimes, authoritarian governments usually do not have a fully developed ideology or try to control every part of life. People may be left alone in private life, religion and business so long as they do not challenge those in power.

Authority without popular consent is the oldest form of government, from ancient empires to absolute monarchies. Thomas Hobbes argued in Leviathan (1651) that people should accept an undivided sovereign to escape civil war. In the twentieth century, authoritarian regimes spread widely: royal and military dictatorships in interwar Europe, Franco's Spain and Salazar's Portugal, and many military and one-party governments in Latin America, Africa and Asia during the Cold War. The political scientist Juan Linz, writing about Franco's Spain in the 1960s, defined authoritarian regimes as systems with limited pluralism, no elaborate guiding ideology, little mass mobilization and leaders who rule within vague but predictable limits. In 1950, Theodor Adorno and colleagues published The Authoritarian Personality, a study of the psychological traits linked to support for strong authority.

Common types include military regimes, personalist dictatorships built around one ruler, one-party states and absolute monarchies. Scholars also describe electoral or competitive authoritarianism, in which regular elections are held but the playing field is tilted through control of the media, courts and state resources. Some theorists defend developmental authoritarianism, arguing that strong governments can speed up economic growth.

Critics argue that authoritarian rule denies basic rights, enables corruption because rulers face no real accountability, and leads to abuses such as political imprisonment, torture and censorship. Democratic theorists add that without free elections there is no peaceful way to change leaders or correct mistakes. Economists debate the claim that authoritarianism helps development, noting that for each fast-growing autocracy there are many that stagnated. Supporters argue that in deeply divided or poor societies, strong rule can prevent chaos and civil conflict.

Authoritarian governments have taken many forms. Pinochet's military government in Chile from 1973 to 1990 combined repression with free-market reforms. Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew combined a dominant party and limits on the press with rapid growth. Many authoritarian regimes have ended in democratic transitions, as in Spain, Portugal, South Korea and much of Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, while others have lasted for decades.