Authoritarian Development Research Articles

East Asian Authoritarian Developmentalism in the Digital Era

This article examines the evolution of the authoritarian developmental state model in the digital era amid intensified global power dynamics, focusing empirically on China. It introduces the concept of the techno-developmental state to illustrate how this evolved state emphasizes digital technologies for both economic growth and social governance. I assert that this evolution is driven by the state’s enhanced capacity to foster high-tech industries amid heightened competition among major powers, alongside bolstered social governance through advanced digital tools. Emphasizing its crucial role in sustaining authoritarian developmentalism, the article analyzes the emergence of the Chinese techno-developmental state amid escalating US–China technological rivalry. It also scrutinizes the New Infrastructure initiative of the early 2020s as the state’s key initiative to drive its economic and governance agendas.

Minor Settler Grief: Korean Diaspora, Settler Colonialism, and the Pastoral Fantasy in Minari (2021)

Abstract: The critically acclaimed film Minari (2021), directed by Lee Isaac Chung, has been recognized for its emotionally moving on-screen representation of a rural Asian American experience. Building on transpacific scholarship, the present essay examines Minari as a narrative of "minor settler grief," an expression of grief by minor settlers that is closely tied to colonial and militarized aesthetics of earth across the Pacific. The article ties Minari's Korean American farming efforts in 1980s Arkansas to the intersecting histories of settler colonialism in the US and Japanese empires and South Korean authoritarian developmentalism. It considers the Korean nativist aesthetics of earth at work in Minari , an aesthetics of pastoral fantasy that had served imperialism and authoritarian developmentalism, as well as anticolonial imaginations in modern Korea and the diaspora. The essay argues that minor settler grief functions by obscuring relationalities, such as the histories of Native American removal in present-day Arkansas. Mining these histories and visual references enables a critique of certain expressions of grief that produce settler colonial recognition and forgetting.

Limited Coercive Power: How to Complete Taiwan's Land Reform under the Authoritarian System

In transforming modernization in developing countries and regions, the primary problem is social integration, and the key to integration is land reform. This paper uses the process tracking method to explore the land reform in Taiwan after the war. In terms of initial conditions, Taiwan belongs to the agricultural society. After the war, it got rid of Japan's colonial rule and then embarked on the authoritarian development modeled by the Chiang Kai-shek government. The Kuomintang regime in Taiwan began to institutionalize as early as the mainland period. After returning to Taiwan, the government can maintain high independence and establish a systematic communication channel with the grassroots society, with the landlord as the leading class. In the reform process, the Kuomintang regime had a strong ability to act and promote cooperation between landlords and finally achieved a more thorough land reform. Therefore, for developing countries, because the situation they are facing is different from that of the previously developed countries, having solid political authority and further improving the level of institutionalization on this basis is an essential condition for successful land reform.

청계천에서 난지도로

During the 1970s, the urban underclass of Seoul underwent significant displacement. This displacement took place within the city and was mainly due to semi-forced evictions from unauthorized dwellings and large-scale urban redevelopment initiatives. The government policies and construction capital interests created a perception of the redevelopment primarily as forced demolitions and top-down development. However, these transformations were underpinned by significant institutional and technological changes. Aerial photography, for example, facilitated the institutionalisation of spatial and ownership information. Through this transformation driven by technology, demolishing unauthorized housing became a systematic and feasible enforcement measure. The urban poor were unable to afford the newly constructed rental apartments after the demolitions. The simultaneous demolition of deprived areas across Seoul worsened their displacement. Individuals searched for shelter in inadequate housing clusters which became legalised after 1971. For those who were unable to afford these dwellings, unauthorised areas like Nanjido presented themselves as the only option. The displacement of the urban underclass was essentially due to a significant wave of demolitions and development. The institutionalisation of spatial data through aerial photography played a crucial role in implementing the clearance of unauthorised housing. The urban poor had no other choice but to move to areas where spatial information is not available. This highlights how socially vulnerable people are excluded from certain areas based on their location. Moreover, it underscores the passive resistance of the urban poor towards aggressive and authoritarian development.

Authoritarian Development in Morocco: The ‘Developmental State’ without State Development

Development and authoritarian rule are often viewed as a contradiction in terms, but Morocco exemplifies their confluence in the framework of what could be called ‘authoritarian development’, wherein democracy is divorced from the process and practice of development. This paper examines the contradictory, rocky development path of the Moroccan state. While the state sets the rhythm for the development of society, it itself is impervious to development. As a result, development is a piecemeal practice, confined to the economic and social spheres while neglecting the political sphere, which consequently brings lower positive yields from development. The paper also examines the authoritarian nature of the Moroccan developmental model in light of modernisation theory and developmental authoritarianism, guided by the theory of competitive authoritarianism. It shows that the constraints on citizens’ economic and social empowerment are largely attributable to the fact that the political transformation of the state has been excluded as a possibility. The paper finds that the form of development in Morocco constitutes an extension of political authoritarianism and that the latter is responsible for the failure of economic and social development, concluding that political development geared to dismantling authoritarianism is a prerequisite for the development of the state.

Avoiding the Political Resource Curse: Evidence from a Most-Likely Case

Why do some countries escape the political resource curse while others do not? Most scholars argue that avoiding the claimed anti-democratic effects of natural resources, especially oil, largely depends on the quality of pre-existing political institutions and/or the effectiveness of contemporary resource management institutions. Drawing on the most-likely case of Timor-Leste, one of the world’s most oil-dependent countries that nevertheless successfully consolidated democracy, we challenge these dominant theories and highlight new important factors to consider. We show that Timor-Leste did not avoid the curse because of good pre-existing political institutions, good natural resource governance institutions, or an otherwise favorable environment for democracy. Instead, we find that the ideological beliefs of major political actors, their strong popular legitimacy, the absence of a hegemonic actor among them, as well as the approaches of external actors, have produced a consolidated democracy despite strong incentives for the development of authoritarianism. These findings highlight the importance of ideology and agency, of the composition of independence movements, and of constructive international engagement, in particular at critical historical junctures. In short, even countries facing serious political and economic challenges can avoid the political resource curse, and both scholars and policymakers should consider a broader approach to the phenomenon.

Imagining Decent Work towards a Green Future in a Former Forest Village of the City of Istanbul

This paper addresses issues pertaining to the future of work and sustainability through the lens of a case study of ecological deterioration and how it destroys and creates green jobs in a forest village of Istanbul. As elsewhere in major urban centres of developing countries, the hyper-expansion of city regions due to authoritarian developmentalism fosters the state-led construction sector in Turkey. Growth-driven economic policies continue to have adverse effects on the environment, resulting in deforestation among an array of ecological damage. Based on a qualitative analysis of oral history interviews and observations informed by a larger interdisciplinary research project, we observe resilience in the forest village under scrutiny as certain types of work are abandoned, and new forms are created by adaptation to the ecological and social conditions. The perceptions of changing conditions by locals vary across existing ethnic, gender, and class hierarchies in the local community. Moreover, our findings indicate that the types of work available in the village prior to urban transformation were not all decent or green. In face of ongoing ecological deterioration in a (formerly) forest community, participatory micro-initiatives, and grassroots, utilizing local community projects emerge that nevertheless pursue a green and just transition. We focus on one such initiative, the Community Fungi platform, to demonstrate the possibility of working towards a collective imagination of a green future inspired by past but unforgotten sustainable communal practices, in the context of the forest village under scrutiny in this paper.

Inequalities and social sciences in neoliberal Indonesia

AbstractRising wealth and social inequalities around the world place great pressure on social researchers to interpret and explain the impact. However, it is equally important to recognise that scientists too have been part of the reproduction of social inequalities. This article expands on Burawoy's (2015) appeal to social scientists to acknowledge that social inequalities are not only external to the social science community specifically – and the scientific community more generally – but they also pervade academic labour and the way universities are managed and reformed. By taking the case of Indonesia, the largest economy in understudied Southeast Asia, this article reveals types of social inequalities reproduced and sustained through policies and practices within universities. These inequalities are the exclusionary effects of internationalisation, selective inclusion and corporatist bureaucracies, as well as regional inequalities in terms of infrastructure and capacity. We problematise the detrimental effects of marketisation in higher education on academic imagination and how it extends authoritarian developmentalism (1966–1998) to suit neoliberal demands. The article ends with propositions on how academics from the Global South can better understand their social position in an increasingly networked yet disconnected world skewed by multiple configurations of social inequalities.

Cyfrowy nadzór w chińskim modelu autorytarnego kapitalizmu

This paper examines the rise of digital authoritarianism in the 21st century. In this political regime, the state authorities exercise control over society via digital technologies while governing the national economy based chiefly on free-market principles.
 The thesis consists of the statement that the elements of the digital economy, including artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and Internet of Things (IoT) communication, are the critical drivers of surveillance capitalism, characterized by unlimited access to any personal and business data. Subsequently, authoritarian governments benefit from possibilities of digital surveillance, including the control of media and the so-called behavioral surplus. It consequently leads to social manipulation, censorship, Internet shutdowns, and different kinds of punishment of citizens via social rating practices.
 The analysis presents the case study of a model of Chinese digital authoritarianism, taking into account the rising popularity of this kind of regime in other countries, where political power is highly centralized. At the same time, the economic transformation has occurred there due to historical or specific geopolitical conditions.
 The findings show that the development of digital authoritarianism is a consequence of surveillance capitalism, within which there is a global data flow via digital platforms. Although surveillance capitalism takes more sophisticated forms than digital authoritarianism, it still serves the same purposes of pursuing the interests of the political elites and influential market players, and it could be perilous for the democratic freedoms of citizens.

The clouds against progress: technoscience, environment and the U.S./Brazil “Radar in Amazon Project” (RADAM) (1970-1975)

The objective of this investigation is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the RADAM Project activities during the Brazilian civil-military regime (1964 -1985). The RADAM was a technoscientific project, created at the federal level in 1970, which intended to map Brazil’s Northeastern and Amazon territories and thus produce systematic knowledge about their natural resources, a process considered crucial for the federal government’s development plans. By analyzing original documents, we attempt to comprehend the role of the project in the authoritarian development policy set forth by the military government. We intend to demonstrate the juridical and institutional reforms that made the implementation of the project possible and then analyze how the RADAM project was effectively organized and its direct and indirect objectives. Lastly, we look into how the work of the technical agents and scientists in the social scenario of the Brazilian dictatorship.

Constructing new Turkey’s desired worker: the denial of social class in the AKP era

ABSTRACT The process of intensification of authoritarianism in Turkey was characterized by the attempt to monopolize state power and marginalize the opposition. At the same time, however, the intensity of authoritarianism extended beyond the institutional level of the state and decisively affected many levels of social relations. This article analyses one of the many expressions of the relationship between authoritarianism and neoliberalism at social class level and the attempt to construct a disciplined working class committed to the state’s strategies. It focuses on the analysis of the content of ‘desired worker’ and ‘desired trade unionism’ which the AKP government tries to impose, aiming to intensify control over sections of labourers. Analysing the content of social class, but even more specifically the content the government aims to attribute to the concept of working class and trade unionism, this study contributes towards a more general understanding of the development of authoritarianism. Decoding the different perceptions and ways the Erdoğan government exploits them in order to shed them of their class content, this article aims at a better comprehension of power mechanisms and mechanisms reproducing social inequality.

How local political economy dynamics are shaping the Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)’s ambiguity has opened the door to varied interpretations. Developing a structural political economy analysis, we push back against overgeneralised one-directional accounts in favour of a more nuanced localised reading, to show how recipient state political economy dynamics mediate the BRI as it unfolds in participating countries. We demonstrate this through analysis of Cambodia’s industrial development, drawing from evidence of special economic zones (SEZs), and specifically the Sihanoukville SEZ, now touted as a ‘model’ of BRI cooperation by both China and Cambodia. We show this model to be a continuation of earlier neoliberal logics of uneven growth and precarity, perpetuating Cambodia’s conflictual authoritarian developmentalism. This investment, now increasingly framed under the BRI, supports infrastructure development and industrial expansion, feeding the ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s longstanding elite-patronage system, while generating jobs for ordinary Cambodians in manufacturing and other low-added-value industries. In our analysis, local political economy dynamics and contestation emerge as critical for explaining trajectories and outcomes associated with the BRI. In the process we unpick the discourses ascribed to the BRI in Cambodia and more broadly. Our findings have implications for policymaking in Cambodia and China, and for other development actors engaging with the BRI.

On the psychodynamics of hope and identity in times of crisis: why they are needed when basic assumption victimism/supremacism prevail

In times of crisis uncertainty and insecurity rise and lead to heightened anxiety and fear. To overcome these emotions, hope and identity are needed. In this article I would like to explore the psychodynamics of hope and identity, the role they play in overcoming crisis, how they are connected in good and in bad times, and how leaders can create real hope and real identity. My major point will be that hope and identity are linked via fear and containment—in defensive and destructive ways, forming both fake hope and fake identity and in constructive healthy and healing ways, improving the well-being and functioning as well as performing of individuals, organisations, and societies. I will show that the crisis also induces a new basic assumption (BA) mentality which I have already called in earlier papers "victimism", and which I will develop further here with the addition of supremacism. Victimism/ supremacism as basic assumption mentality in the sense of Bion are critical in understanding the development of prevailing larger phenomenon such as populism, the rise of authoritarian leaders, identitarian movements, identity politics, and similar developments. Leaders need this knowledge to move beyond the BA V/S mentality and the crisis into hope and the future.

Authoritarian developmentalism: The latest stage of neoliberalism?

We are amidst what can be termed an ongoing authoritarian turn in global politics. While Trump, one of its important examples, is no longer in office in the United States, there remain many countries under the sway of authoritarian leaders, such as Turkey, Egypt, Brazil, Hungary and the Philippines. The policies of Trump, Sisi, Bolsonaro, Orban and Duterte can be characterized as authoritarian developmentalism. Although they have come to power through democratic elections, these leaders are undermining some of the key tenets of democratic societies. While their policies are couched in nationalist terms and call for the strengthening of the state, they can also be seen as a continuation of the prevailing neoliberal global order. This introduction to a special issue ends by reflecting on the conditions necessary launch effective resistance movements against authoritarian developmentalism and the broader challenge of building vibrant political democracies in post-neoliberal times.

CAMPFIRE Project in Mbazhe Community, Nkayi District, Zimbabwe: A Conflict of Interests

The introduction of CAMPFIRE projects by the Zimbabwean government in the 1980s-1990s was received with mixed feelings especially in Matabeleland provinces as many people were displaced in preference for wildlife. The government viewed CAMPFIRE projects as an antidote to the colonial legacy of technocratic and authoritarian development which undermined people’s control over their environment and criminalised their use of game. This paper seeks to explore why such a potentially positive project was met with mixed feelings by the Mbazhe community in Nkayi District. The deeper conflict between the Mbazhe community and the government in the implementation of the Mbazhe CAMPFIRE project needs careful examination and analysis. The study adopted a qualitative approach as a suitable method of understanding the problem, and complex processes that involved multiple participants in the implementation of this project. Consistent with Lewis Anthony Dexter’s elite interviewing and key informants’ techniques, the study conducted interviews with the 20 villagers and 10 CAMPFIRE project committee members (Dexter 1970). The study concluded that the historical government forces formed the attitudes towards the implementation of the project, by side-lining of local views. The study also revealed that the CAMPFIRE project in the Mbazhe community was further shaped by the legacies of the colonial rule, which was done purely following the authoritarian rule of the white settlers. Consequently, these factors shaped deep suspicion of the CAMPFIRE project and resulted in serious conflicts between the implementers and the affected communities. The study recommended that CAMPFIRE project implementers were/or should consider the inputs of the local people when implementing such projects in their local areas. Also, devolution of power should be promoted among all districts of Zimbabwe so that all districts can benefit from their local resources. Finally, the study recommended that the government should adopt people centred approaches when dealing with people at grassroot level.

Crisis, Authoritarian Neoliberalism, and the Return of “New Democracy” to power in Greece

This article focuses on New Democracy (ND), Greece’s main conservative party, and its return to power in 2019. The study enquires into ND’s hegemonic strategy and governance. ND’s hegemonic strategy is grounded in both neoliberal and Far-Right premises. This enabled ND to create a hegemonic block that ranges from centrist liberals to far-rightists, while advancing an anti-leftist ideological project, connected to progressing upper- class interests. The ND administration unfolds an autocratic form of executive governance that is based on legislating class-related reforms, propaganda and effective control of the mainstream media, and coercive force. These features reflect the development of neoliberal authoritarianism in Greece, like elsewhere. They represent “the new form of bourgeois republic in the current phase of capitalism,” bearing the traits of autocracy, illiberalism, and Far-Right mainstreaming. The study deploys examples from ND’s political discourse and from policies that the ND administration has launched.

The problems of the formation of a democratic regime in post-Soviet Russia

The discussion about the development of democracy in Russia does not lose relevance 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Constitution proclaims the formation of a democratic regime, but political scientists note the development of autocratic tendencies in post-Soviet Russia. It's necessary to study its origins, consider the process of formation for a deeper analysis of the modern political system. it will be possible to study the factors that hindered the development of democracy in our country. It was at that time that the trends of authoritarian development were laid.

Social and competitive threat as situational factors moderating relationships between moral judgments and different components of authoritarian ideology

This paper presents research on the complexity of moral judgments underlying two components of authoritarian ideology: right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). Based on previous research, it was expected that people who were high on moral intuitions of Ingroup/loyalty and Authority/respect (Ethics of Community) should be high on RWA, whereas people who were high on moral intuitions of Care/harm and Fairness/reciprocity (Ethics of Autonomy) should be low on SDO. In more detailed hypotheses it was assumed that such general relationships would be moderated by situational factors - threat to social order and competitive threat, respectively. Two experimental studies were conducted: the first with manipulation of the threat to social order, and the second with manipulation of the competitive threat (N = 180 and 150, respectively). Both studies showed that Ethics of Community predicted clear increase in RWA, while the Ethics of Autonomy predicted considerable decrease in SDO. However positive relationships between Ingroup/loyalty and RWA as well as between Authority/respect and RWA were strongly reinforced by threat to social order, whereas the negative relationships between Care/harm and SDO as well as between Fairness/reciprocity and SDO diminished under situationally induced aggressive ‘Darwinian’ competition. The Ethics of Community appears as a moral basis for development of right-wing authoritarianism, and this relationship is especially strong when the social order is perceived as threatened. On the other hand, the Ethics of Autonomy can be seen as a moral basis for inhibition of social dominance orientation, but it loses the moral relevance in strongly competitive social environment.

From authoritarian development to totalist urban reordering: The Daxing forced evictions case

The forced eviction campaign in the wake of a fire in Daxing District in Beijing in November 2017 provides some evidence signalling a shift from a technocratic-utilitarian model to a more assertive, image-conscious and totalist model of spatial control and population governance. Yet, although it was not possible for anyone to mount effective legal or political resistance to the campaign, protests in its wake suggest that faced with even harsher forms of control, citizens might solidarize in novel ways, articulating their legal rights and shared political identity as Chinese citizens across social barriers.

Lost in authoritarian development: Have global climate deals and the aid community sacrificed the Vietnamese highland population?

AbstractMotivationGlobal climate agreements and associated funding mechanisms tend to ignore the knowledge and experience accumulated in conventional aid interventions over several decades. The consequences are particularly pronounced in authoritarian regimes, where marginal population groups may be subjected to technocratic development plans in the name of global climate goals and social safeguards are difficult to monitor.PurposeThe article examines the implications of climate‐related interventions for ethnic minority communities in the highlands of Vietnam, as they are caught in the conflicting development logics between the international donor community, vowing to defend their interests, and the Vietnamese government administration.ApproachThe study builds on a comprehensive household survey on REDD+ activities and livelihoods in two districts (three communes) in upland Lao Cai province in northern Vietnam. The survey was supplemented with in‐depth interviews with villagers, extensive talks with governments (People's Committees) at provincial, district and commune level, and various observations and interviews across the province.FindingsThe study finds that embeddedness is of key importance. However well‐intended climate‐related interventions may be, they cannot alter crucial conditions of social organization and governance. In the highlands of Vietnam, climate‐related funding tends to be aligned with a long series of government programmes for their transformation and the assimilation of ethnic minorities that have continued since 1975. Despite the international focus on “social safeguards”, ethnic minority people lose access to forest resources while most are trapped in poverty. The findings add to a growing literature that is critical of REDD+.Policy implicationsCurrent economic growth priorities have negative social and cultural impacts of such magnitude that they go beyond acceptable trade‐offs, and also threaten the very objective of climate‐mitigation projects. Both the basic safeguard instruments (a rights‐based approach, the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process, and a broad range of stakeholder engagements) and the global standards enshrined in the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) are in practice set aside by the authoritarian state. This tends to be commonly available knowledge, and it would seem that international donors observing the mandate of global climate deals have become insensitive to rights. In order to secure continued backing to global climate‐related funding mechanisms, however, improved monitoring is urgently needed.