Authoritarian Practices in a Global Age

Abstract

Abstract This book challenges the assumption that authoritarianism is necessarily a phenomenon located at the level of the state, and that states as a whole are therefore either democratic or authoritarian. It provides a parsimonious framework for recognizing and analysing contemporary manifestations of authoritarianism beyond the state, and a number of empirical case studies. In its first chapter, the book offers a new conceptual understanding of authoritarianism as practices of accountability sabotage, applicable to units of analysis other than states. Subsequent chapters operationalize this definition in a number of empirical case studies. The unit of analysis is always the ‘authoritarian practice’, but the manifestations thereof are quite diverse. Chapters 2 to 6 comprise a study of transnational repression by authoritarian states; two chapters on informal and formal multilateral collaboration in anti-terrorist policies; a chapter on corporate and public-private authoritarian practices in the mining sector; and a chapter on cover-ups of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The concluding chapter reconsiders the concept of authoritarian practices and draws out commonalities and unique features from the case studies, thereby setting out a research agenda for future studies of authoritarianism beyond the state.