Authoritarian State Research Articles

Policy-specific human rights shaming: Evidence from the other letters of the UN Special Procedures

This study provides empirical insights into “other letters” (OLs) issued by the UN Special Procedures, a unique tool of policy-specific human rights shaming. By analyzing criticized laws, recipients, state responses, and impact, the study reveals that OLs are predominantly targeted at cooperative states. Despite better human rights records, democracies receive more OLs and they are more likely to implement the recommendations. Authoritarian states receive fewer OLs and tend to reject the allegations. The study highlights the intricate dynamics shaping interactions between UN human rights mechanisms and states, emphasizing democratic responsiveness while underscoring the challenges of addressing abuses in nondemocratic settings.

Green nationalism from above: Authoritarian state power and the greening of UAE nationalism

Green nationalism from above: Authoritarian state power and the greening of UAE nationalism

Ex nihilo nihil fit – New cities as territorial infrastructures in Brazil and Portugal

The pre-foundational stages of new cities are marked by several decisive elements that ultimately led to their genesis. The reason for their existence and where they materialize necessarily depend on decisions made by agents, institutions and specific political-economic-social circumstances that have guided each of these undertakings. In some cases, new cities have not only involved the destruction of local ecosystems (human and natural) but even their eventual disappearance, within a context whereby the human species has simply viewed them as being subsidiary (almost always superfluous) to pursuing its colonizing determinations. The aim of this article, which is the result of post-doctoral research, is to characterize new cities, those intentionally created and professionally designed, as infrastructural devices for territorial activation and urbanization. Rather than being the end-products of a political-spatial dynamic, could these cities be understood as intermediary cogwheels for productive and extractive activities? In the pursuit of an answer, attention has been focused on the cities founded in the central-south region of the Amazon (Brazil) and in the Sines region (Portugal) during the 1970s, all of which emerged from developmentalism, state authoritarianism, the dynamics of capitalization and accumulation and the expanded participation of private sectors. While maintaining the due proportions and scalar differences, the processes of occupation, colonization, infrastructure development, and exploitation of natural assets characterize both territories, including the predatory urban planning practices that are harmful to local ecosystems. Thus, these cities have become our exploratory field in this investigation, conducted through an historical perspective, underpinned by consultations with primary and secondary sources and on-site visits. With an understanding that “nothing comes from nothing”, this study qualifies each new city as a representation of the conditions that led to its birth and its strategic position in the recent capitalist system.

From Foe to Friend: Exploring State-Led Destigmatization

We seek to understand the distinctive process of state-led category destigmatization, extending an emergent stream of research on category destigmatization that has so far focused on the efforts of stigmatized members of categories. When a category conflicts with a prevailing ideology, internal actors may face such substantial barriers to destigmatization that the state—often motivated by the pragmatic benefits of that category’s success—must take a proactive role in the effort. Focusing on an extreme case, we explore the revival of the private business category in China through a longitudinal case study. We develop a grounded process model that highlights the interplay among the state, category members, and the public as a framework for understanding this type of destigmatization process. Our model also addresses dynamics that can emerge within the state when political power is divided between category proponents and opponents with competing ideological stances. Our study highlights the need for the state to balance destigmatization efforts with maintaining legitimacy, prompting iterative strategic adjustments based on local feedback, evolving public opinion, and intrastate competition between political factions. Our findings show that such adjustments may be needed even in authoritarian states, which are typically more coercive. In addition, we find that states can effectively use backstage strategies (e.g., regulatory leniency) and frontstage strategies (e.g., legislative change) in complementary ways to advance destigmatization while safeguarding the state’s legitimacy. Finally, we show that starting a category destigmatization effort by emphasizing the category’s pragmatic values (prior to advocating for moral reevaluation of the category) can mitigate ideological conflict and increase chances of successful destigmatization.

Vietnam in the democratization process: Dynamics from the process of international integration and the development of information-communication technology

This article delves into the complex dynamics of Vietnam’s democratization process, highlighting the simultaneous influences of international integration and advancements in science and technology. This study investigates the impact of Vietnam’s increasing involvement in the global economy and international community, as well as its adoption of technological advancements, on the country’s path toward democratization. The study utilizes a mixed approach, blending qualitative analysis of scientific documents, Vietnamese government policies, and quantitative data on the democracy index from international organizations. It identifies international integration as a double edged sword: on one hand, it boosts economic growth and development, driving the democratic transition process forward; on the other hand, it also leads to economic dependence and inequality, potentially impeding democratic reform. The findings of this study show that the rapid progress of science and technology, especially information and communication technology, presents both opportunities and difficulties for Vietnam’s democratic process. It provides unparalleled opportunities for widespread involvement in political activities and the spread of democratic principles, but it also carries the risk of social unrest and the potential for the authoritarian state to control and manipulate information.

Changing diasporic identity and increasing global backlash: the Xi government’s tactics and challenges of engaging new generation overseas Chinese

ABSTRACT The transnational engagement between the Chinese communist government and first-generation overseas Chinese has been analysed extensively, but the academic analysis of interactions between the Chinese communist government under Xi Jinping and new generation overseas Chinese is scarce. Questions arise regarding how the rise of new generation overseas Chinese has changed the diasporic identity of the overseas Chinese community; what the Xi government’s tactics of engaging new generation overseas Chinese are; and how new generation overseas Chinese respond to the Xi government’s targeted campaign. By answering these questions, this article provides an important case study for the emerging scholarship on the relations between authoritarian states and new generation diasporas. Building on government archives, ethnographic interviews, media reports, and online and offline diaspora events, this article analyses the Xi government’s tactics and challenges of diaspora engagement targeting new generation overseas Chinese, and forecasts an uphill battle for the Xi government.

Social capital and performance of public councils in Kazakhstan

This study applies Putnam’s social capital thesis to an examination of the impact of social capital (social trust, formal networks and norms) on public councils’ performance in Kazakhstan. As public councils aim to express citizens’ opinions on socially significant problems, this inquiry measures their performance by examining their impact on social issues in various policy domains. Drawing on data collected from four regions of Kazakhstan, we found that social trust and cooperation norms have a positive impact on public councils’ effectiveness, while formal networking has no influence. The limited significance of formal networking in the local context is explained by the state-led nature of civil society. This article contributes to the literature on social capital and government performance in authoritarian states.

Beyond the Secular, the Sacred, and the State: Alternative Vocabularies of the Disagreement in Secular and Pious Feminist Narratives in Turkey

This paper rethinks the different ways in which civil society activism might be able to transform radical political disagreements about feminism, secularism, and religiosity under authoritarian pro-conservative state policies. I pursue this task by bringing in my previous work on the interpersonal feminist relationship between secular/Kemalist feminists and pious/Islamic feminists in Turkey. In the intersection of ethnography and theory, I argue that locating alternative feminist vocabularies of disagreement in women’s own their own narratives can help us challenge the broader dichotomies dictated by the secular, sacred, and the state. From a relational theoretical framework that stresses the iterative importance of unexpected interpersonal everyday life interactions, this paper contributes to the broader debates on pious women’s agency and the limits of feminist friendship.

'We Feel Something'

On February 11, 1965, less than one year after the outset of the Brazilian military dictatorship, singer Maria Bethânia assumed one of the principal roles in the musical theater piece Opinião in Rio de Janeiro. Taking over for Nara Leão, who helped conceive the play, Bethânia was celebrated by fans, especially for her performance of co-star João do Vale’s song ‘Carcará.’ The song’s lyrics invoke imagery of the Brazilian northeast, home region of both Vale and Bethânia, and the performance includes a spoken statistical report on the migration of people from the northeast to the southern cities. Although the song’s composer denied that the song was an act of protest or political commentary, General Riograndino Kruel, then head of the Federal Police, identified it as one of the ‘subversive’ elements in the show that needed to be cut. This call to censorship contradicted the censor board’s 1964 approval of the show, during Nara Leão’s run as star. This article analyzes singer Maria Bethânia’s participation in Opinião to consider the potential for musical performance to engender political community by affective means. Drawing on archival materials and interviews conducted with audience members and participants, I argue that Bethânia’s performances were the catalyst for the formation of an oppositional ‘community of feeling,’ a collective predicated the expression of negative emotional energy toward the nascent authoritarian state. I show how audience members’ and critics’ affective response to Bethânia’s performance evidenced a shift in the tenor of the public for Opinião, which subsequently raised the suspicions of the military government. Additionally, I investigate how the dictatorship’s repressive response illustrates the possibilities and limits of a community formed through musical performance. Photo caption: Maria Bethania in the show Opinião, at Teatro de Arena, São Paulo, 1965. (Public domain / Arquivo Nacional Collection)

Democratization in the age of artificial intelligence: introduction to the special issue

ABSTRACT As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies become ubiquitous, research on their implications for democratization has blossomed. Will AI empower citizens and strengthen democracy or fuel the rise of autocracy? This special issue brings together diverse theoretical, conceptual, and empirical contributions to offer a synoptic perspective on this question across political contexts. In this introduction, we argue that the most significant socio-technical novelty pertaining to AI - the possibility for automated hyper-personalization - catalyses four structural changes that capture the complex relationship between AI, democratization, and autocratization. First, technology corporations have emerged as a new quasi-governing class that holds political power without democratic legitimacy. Second, automated hyper-personalization has transformed the citizen-state relationship by fostering hyper-technocracy and paternalism in democracies, and enhancing regimes' repertoires for controlling citizens in autocracies. Third, AI is changing the environment in which citizens exercise their political rights, exacerbating political polarization, societal fragmentation, and apathy. Finally, at the international level, AI has created new arenas for competition between democratic and authoritarian states, engendering a struggle for both technological capabilities and the values and norms that will govern them. The articles in this special issue explore these dynamics from micro impacts to structural changes in state behaviour and international relations.

Implications of Hamka’s thoughts in tafsir al-Azhar on the standpoint of Islamic social organizations in preventing authoritarianism in Indonesia

Indonesian Islamic social organizations not only function as religious organizations but they serve as interest groups as well. Islamic social organizations are often faced with a dilemma of engaging in practical political matters or otherwise. This study analyzes thoughts and practices relating to the relationship between Islamic social organizations and the state. Study data were mined from Hamka’s thoughts in his seminal work Tafsir al-Azhar and historical documents of Muhammadiyah and the Indonesian Ulema Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia – MUI) during the early period of the New Order, i.e., 1970-1980. The research questions posed in this study refer to how did Hamka interpret Qur’anic verses containing messages regarding the relationship between society and state and what are their implications on the practices of Indonesian Islamic social organizations in their relational dynamics with the state. Study results indicate that Hamka’s thoughts in Tafsir al-Azhar consider syura (deliberation) as a determinant in the relationship between society and state, and distinction between state and religious authority. The implications that Hamka’s thoughts had on the standpoint of Muhammadiyah as an Islamic social organization was its ability to separate itself from its political party affiliation. Muhammadiyah until 1960s was a special member of the Masyumi party. Following its separation with the Masyumi party, Muhammadiyah became an independent non-government civil institution that is critical of the state. As a civil institution, Muhammadiyah succeeded in playing its role as a civil society organization (CSO) and keeping the political regime to develop into an authoritarian and repressive state.

Strengthening academia: embracing an open dialogue on fieldwork in the authoritarian states of Central Asia

ABSTRACT Students embarking on fieldwork across Eurasia, Africa and Latin America will encounter various political practices of regimes and conflicts involving varying levels of open violence. Although they leave their universities equipped with often stunning theoretical and methodological knowledge, surprisingly little attention is paid to practical preparation for uneasy situations. Fieldwork handbooks do exist, but they rarely offer positionality-sensitive guidelines and cannot provide ongoing mentoring during fieldwork or debriefing upon return. Drawing on previous scholarship initiatives and my experiences conducting field research in authoritarian Central Asia, I call for an open academic debate on fieldwork in challenging contexts and increased peer-to-peer solidarity at all academic levels. Addressing teaching professionals, advanced PhD students and anyone else involved in teaching and training newcomers in research and learning, I offer specific examples of what such a cooperation and support leading to a more resilient community may look like in everyday academic and research practice.

When digital feminisms collide with nationalism: Theorizing “pink feminism” on Chinese social media

This article examines how Chinese digital feminists synergize with cyber nationalism to fight the patriarchy and strive to legitimize feminist discourse in Chinese digital realms, where online feminists face strict state censorship and nationalistic backlash. We situate pink feminism as a form of Internet-based nonconfrontational feminist activism revolving around nationalism, in which “pink” connotes young female nationalists, and analyze its precarity within an authoritarian state and neoliberal platform economy. We argue that while pink feminism contributes to the plurality of Chinese feminisms by legitimatizing feminist expression within nationalist frameworks and reinterpreting Chinese nationalism from a feminist perspective, it may inevitably reinforce the existing power structures that feminists seek to dismantle. We suggest that Chinese digital feminists should strategically and consciously engage with pink feminism without ceding feminist autonomy and reflexivity. This study enriches our understanding of the entanglement between feminism and nationalism in non-Western contexts.

The making and taming of the veteran in 1950s Indonesia

Between 1950 and 1956, after a struggle for liberation from Dutch colonial rule, roughly half a million former freedom fighters returned to Indonesian society. Some of the freedom fighters turned into insurgents or joined politico-criminal bands; others sought recognition as veterans of the National Revolution collectively claiming material and immaterial benefits from the state. Given the militancy and political potency of former freedom fighters, the Indonesian state attempted to accommodate them through employment schemes and veteran legislation. In this co-option strategy, that was only partial successful, the central army command played a crucial political role. While the army leaders accommodated the major veteran associations, they also significantly reduced the room for formal political activity. This process of the making and taming of the veteran moved Indonesia into the direction of an authoritarian state with the army counterbalancing the President and a newly arrived political rival: the Indonesian Communist Party.

Illiberal Turn in Authoritarian States: Phenomena and Research on China

Illiberal Turn in Authoritarian States: Phenomena and Research on China

Consultative Authoritarianism in Central Asia

Consultative authoritarianism is associated with regimes that provide mechanisms for citizens’ voice on public policy issues. The existing research considers the implementation of this concept through two mechanisms: civil society working in partnership with the state and public consultation channels that provide opportunities for citizens to influence government decision-making. This study examines consultative authoritarianism in Central Asia. Using a case study of Kazakhstan, a ‘softer’ authoritarian state, we investigate whether the operationalisation of this model fulfils the claims made for it. Through qualitative data gathered from key stakeholders, the study finds mixed evidence of success: there is greater political space for civil society but public consultation mechanisms have limited impact. It is unlikely that either of these changes is sufficient to address the frustrations of citizens and forestall random demonstrations and political protests, which, in turn, may lead to violent repression by the state.

Disease Prevention in a Communist State and the Second Epidemiological Transition: The Case of Post-war Poland

Abstract This article examines the issue of disease prevention in Poland under communist rule. The analysis is primarily focused on the second epidemiological transition – the process of displacing infectious diseases as the main cause of morbidity and mortality by chronic and degenerative conditions. The epidemiological transition coincided with the establishment of the new authorities and the stabilization of the socio-political order that the communists had introduced. This text will explore the interdependence of the political system and prophylaxis. Two interrelated problems are identified: the first is the role of the state in curbing infectious diseases; and the second is the ability of state institutions to identify and respond to new threats. The latter issue is considered in relation to the sharp rise in the incidence of cancer. This article demonstrates that the relationship between state and individual inherent in the authoritarian communist state was reflected in the ways in which prevention policies operated.

Historical Immigration Policies: Trends and Lessons

Abstract In recent years, scholars of migration have created several new immigration policy indexes, but most existing databases have limited temporal scope. They also focus, to a large extent, on the Global North. In this research note, we introduce the Historical Immigration Policy dataset (HIP), which begins to fill these gaps. We first provide an overview of the data and then describe how they offer new insights into immigration policy. We make three empirical observations. (1) On average, democracies are less open to immigration than authoritarian states but grant resident migrants more rights. (2) European states were open to immigration earlier than standard accounts of global migration assume. (3) Historically, openness to immigration and inclusive rights for resident migrants have often been complements, not substitutes.

Confrontation versus Coexistence: The Dynamics of Australia-China Ideological Relations 1996-2022

ABSTRACT Many Western democracies, including the U.S. Australia, France, Canada, and Lithuania, confront the shared challenge of managing their ideological relationships with China, a powerful authoritarian state. This issue is particularly pressing as they consider ways to uphold or promote freedom amidst the perceived decline of American influence. Western liberal democracies frequently embrace a confrontational approach, demoting peaceful coexistence, which can have dire consequences for international or bilateral relations. Using Australia and China as a case study, this paper critically examines the dynamics and complexities of these competing political and ideological relationships—confrontation and peaceful coexistence—between 1996 and 2022. It examines how Canberra has pursued a strategy of ideological taming towards China, how China has adopted countermeasures against Australian taming, and the interaction between Australian taming and Chinese counter-taming. It describes and explains how the China-Australia relationship has shifted from ideological coexistence towards ideological confrontation since 2016–2017. It also critically examines the issues linked to the confrontational model, discusses conditions for a modus vivendi liberalism and better management of value differences.

Contested Information Environment Framework for Assessing Networked Authoritarian Regimes

Abstract Information communication technology (ICT) policy developed to counteract efforts from networked authoritarian regimes to control the information environment must be informed by the information control techniques and strategies that those regimes have at their disposal. This article informs policymakers through the development of a Contested Information Environment Framework that outlines both individual information control techniques and overarching strategies employed by authoritarian regimes. The framework in this article was methodically built through an analysis of the discourse surrounding the efforts of authoritarian state actors to manipulate international and regional social groups by controlling or influencing aspects of information exchanges.