Autocratic Research Articles

Arab Youth and the Quest for Democracy

Arab Youth and the Quest for Democracy Fadi Farasin (bio) and Cihat Battaloglu (bio) Introduction The Arab world appeared immune to the different waves of democratization that swept many parts of the globe, which led to the notion of "Arab exceptionalism." Internal and external pressures were exerted on Arab regimes to democratize; however, Arab regimes exhibited remarkable ability in maintaining their autocratic rule. Arab regimes sufficed by implementing superficial and narrow political reforms with a top-down approach; as a result, the Arab world did not make the transition to democratic rule. No state made significant, un-retracted "steps toward freedoms."1 The Arab people in general and youth2 in particular become disillusioned. Socioeconomic and political exclusion along with the absence [End Page 19] of conduits to implement change, drove the Arab youth to the streets and the Arab Spring ensued.3 The Arab Spring started in Tunisia and resulted in the dismissal of a long-time autocrat, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in early 2011. Egypt and Libya soon followed in the footsteps of Tunisia. During this time, the Arab world was optimistic that democracy would spread. However, time proved that this optimism was misplaced. According to the 2016 Arab Public Opinion Survey, 55 percent of the respondents had negative views of their home countries' political situations.4 The nature of this alienation is the same before the Arab Spring and after it. Before the Arab Spring, most of the youth in the Arab streets would voice their discontent with the policies of their governments and demand freedom, dignity, better governance, accountability and a greater say in politics. A minority went or was driven down the path of radicalization.5 After the tragic events and bloodshed during and after the Arab Spring, which were inflicted by terrorist organizations such as Daesh and power-hungry regimes, a portion of those youth who were calling for political reform and democracy abandoned their demands, prioritizing their security and safety instead.6 According to the 2016 Arab Youth Survey, more than half of youth surveyed agreed with the statement: "Given the current circumstances in the Middle East, promoting stability in the region is more important than promoting democracy."7 The following sections in this article attempt to analyze the factors that drove the Arab youth to become alienated and caused them to challenge the status quo and demand political reform and democratization. It then explains how the tragic unfolding of events after the Arab Spring caused the Arab youth to abandon the quest for democracy and prioritize stability. Democratic Transition and the Role of Arab Youth The term democracy is predicated on the basic principles of contestation, [End Page 20] participation, accountability, and constitutional and institutional arrangements.8 Nevertheless, the reality of 'democratic transition' is far more complex and the drivers more diverse. The institutionalist approach argues that pro-democratic values can only emerge through learning by living under an existing democratic mechanism.9 This approach also highlights the importance of establishing robust democratic institution in a country to fulfil and consolidate democratic transition.10 However, Rustow11 adopts the elite-centered approach in its most radical version. He identifies elites as the main political actors in democratization. He believes that "democratic transition comes when political elites make the conscious decision to adopt the democratic rules of the game."12 In addition, the international dimension of democratization should not be ignored. As underlined by Huntington, the role of external actors became more influential during the different waves of democratization.13 In transitology, a vibrant, democratic, civil society is also considered a significant requisite of democratization. Bernhard argues that "democratization has only existed in conjunction with a civil society. It constitutes the sphere of autonomy from which political forces representing constellations of interests in society have contested state power. Civil society has been a necessary condition for the existence of representative government including democracy."14 In the democratization literature, civil society is seen as "a crucial arena for the development of other democratic attributes, such as tolerance, moderation, willingness to compromise, and a respect for opposing viewpoints."15 It is also highlighted as a key in the development and "teaching of civic virtue...

A theory of autocratic transition by government leaders: prerequisites to self-enforcing democracy

This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the conditions of self-enforcing democracy by analyzing the recent wave of autocratic transitions. Based on a game-theoretic framework, we work out the conditions under which governments may induce the diverse public authorities to coordinate on extra-constitutional activities, eventually transforming the politico-institutional setting into one of autocratic rule. We find three empirically testable characteristics that promote this coordination process, namely: populism and public support, corruption, and a lack in the separation of powers. By contrast, low degrees of corruption and strongly separated powers can be viewed as prerequisites to self-enforcing democracy.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's Vision of Indian Polity: Equality, Justice, and Social Transformation

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a well-known social activist as well as distinguished philosopher, was genuinely worried regarding the situation of the marginalised at the start of his distinguished career. He spent his whole life working to improve social and economic circumstances. Ambedkar's transformative vision directs individual's efforts as assists with renegotiating issues, particularly the collapse of modern political thought. Ambedkar became well-known as a key strategic philosopher throughout today's society following the rise of the dalit struggle. He rose to prominence in India's sociopolitical environment during the 1920s. With terms of political, economic, social or religious views, he was crucial to the improvement of the least rung of so-called indestructible Indian community. Furthermore, he was a brilliant sociologist, economist, judicial analyst, educationist, author, legislator, advocate, or rights-based activist. He was an iconoclast as well as researcher who successfullly organised, emancipated, or united the uneducated Indians opposing all forms of societal and political tyranny. This investigation captures Ambedkar's views on politics.

Transition from Democracy to Autocratic Rule

It is difficult to talk about real democracy in our history of the democratic system except for the first periods of the Democratic Party (DP) between 1950 and 1954. A few years after the 1960 Constitution was implemented and the first periods of Turgut Özal (Motherland Party -ANAP) between 1984 and 1989, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) period after 2002 until 2010. Turkey has been controlled by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) since 2002. After some reforms initially, the AKP government showed growing contempt for political rights and civil liberties. Following an attempted coup in 2016, the country’s authoritarian nature was established entirely, prompting a harsh crackdown on perceived leadership opponents. In 2017, constitutional amendments concentrated power in the hands of the President. As a result of the negativities experienced and the changes in the system, according to the 2021 Freedom House report, Turkey’s new category is “not freedom.” While President exerts tremendous power in Turkish politics, hopefully, opposition victories in the 2019 municipal elections demonstrated that presidential authority was not unlimited. There were several steps in Turkey’s transition from democracy to autocratic rule. These stages should be well understood and analyzed in the countries where democracies declined, and necessary precautions should be taken.

Federalism, Democracy and Development in African States: The Nigerian Experience

The federal formula, which African states adopted at independence, is believed to be a formula of national survival. Functional Federalism is a system of federalism focused on power sharing and separation of functions between the Federal and member states and among the member states. Thus, a cardinal principle of federalism is that there is no subordinate government, even though there may be two or more state governments. Therefore, autocratic rule in all its forms is antithetical to the sustenance of genuinely federal practice. Nigeria’s adoption of the federal formula improved internal cohesion at independence, the reverse is said to be true since the 1966 military intervention. Thus, unless urgent political stability agendas (respect for rule of law and fiscal federalism) are brought to support the federal order, the challenges will certainly outweigh the opportunities.

The Treaty of Nîmes (1704): fake news, propaganda and diplomacy during the War of the Spanish Succession

Abstract This article reappraises the significance of the ‘Treaty of Nîmes’, a fake historical document that supposedly ended the War of the Cévennes in May 1704. The agreement was negotiated by Camisard leader Jean Cavalier and Louis XIV’s representative in Languedoc, the Maréchal de Villars. It claimed no less than to restore the Edict of Nantes in Languedoc two decades after its revocation, and sparked speculation among the Protestant coalition about the true state of French domestic affairs in the midst of the War of the Spanish Succession. Dissecting its individual articles against the backdrop of contemporary correspondences, newspapers and pamphlets, this article thus reconstructs the origins and true purpose of that controversial agreement to show the limits of the Sun King’s absolutist rule, and makes a case more generally for the historical value of fake historical documents.

New Insights On Africa’s Autocratic Past

africa has not been immune to recent global trends in democratic backsliding. Although the vast majority of countries on the continent have been holding competitive multi-party elections since the end of the Cold War, we are currently witnessing attempts by elected presidents and ruling parties to extend their tenures through undemocratic means.1 These trends are concerning, not only for those seeing their rights and freedoms constrict, but because they are happening despite the presence of formal democratic institutions that are meant to curb the impulses of autocratic rule. Our current era is not the first in which Africans have seen the erasure of hard-fought political freedoms as African countries turned autocratic after brief flirtations with democracy at independence. And like today, the autocracies of Africa’s past boasted many of the formal institutions that we assume should constrain executives. For instance, data from the Varieties of Democracy project indicate that,...

READING LOKI (2021): FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM, RESISTANCE TO AUTOCRATIC IDEOLOGY, AND QUEER REPRESENTATION IN THE SERIES

The present research paper undertakes a detailed analysis of the central themes of the television series Loki (2021), a continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) on the small screen. The first and last episode of the show are especially significant for their grappling with the age-old uncertainty over Free Will and Determinism. The revelation of the autocratic nature of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) (controlled by the secretive Time Keepers who in turn are revealed to have been created by the elusive He Who Remains) and its involvement in the dissemination of a particular ideology and propaganda provides the narrative an opportunity to explore the theme of resistance to autocratic rule (represented in the character of Sylvie) and the ideology and propaganda spread by autocratic rulers and/or institutions (the former represented by the Time Keepers and He Who Remains whereas the latter by the Time Variance Authority [TVA]). However, with the series itself calling into question the (alleged) benefits of Free Will and assuming a pessimistic, if not critical, stance over post-revolutionary conditions has led to the show being interpreted by some as conservative in nature or in favour of maintaining status-quo. Through the characters of C – 20 and Sylvie respectively the series also directs our attention to the likely fate awaiting those who (after being enlightened) start questioning the official ideology or rise up in opposition to it. Finally, the paper attempts to situate the Queering of Loki, the series’ titular character, which constitutes a small but significant step towards including sexualities other than the dominant heterosexual within the MCU, in the wider context of the history of the representation of diverse sexualities in the MUC and critical reactions to it.

To Grow or Not to Grow: Belarus and Lithuania.

We compare the economic growth performance of Belarus and Lithuania since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Our interest in this country pair is driven by the two countries’ interwoven history as well as by the fact that Belarus remains autocratic and strongly tied to Russia, while Lithuania has reinvented herself as a democratic market economy fully integrated into the EU. Our aim is to understand better the extent to which the growth differential between the two countries can be traced to increased efficiency, i.e., total factor productivity, in the use of capital and other resources via, inter alia, better institutions (intensive growth) as opposed to sheer accumulation of capital (extensive growth), the hallmark of Soviet economic growth. To this end, we compare the development of some key determinants of growth in the two countries since the 1990s. Employing a simple growth accounting model we find that institutional reforms, open and transparent governance, and good education play a more important role for output and efficiency than crude capital accumulation. Hence Lithuania does better than Belarus, which remains marred by problems related to weak governance as well as autocratic rule. As in Estonia and Latvia we find that the EU perspective made a significant contribution to growth in Lithuania. The Russian connection has done less for Belarus. At last, we also touch upon the impact of the corona virus on the economies of the two countries.

Review: Contested Modernity: Sectarianism, Nationalism, and Colonialism in Bahrain, by Omar H. al-Shehabi

Review: <i>Contested Modernity: Sectarianism, Nationalism, and Colonialism in Bahrain</i>, by Omar H. al-Shehabi

Yan Fu, John Seeley, and the Idea of Liberty

This article advances a more precise appreciation of Yan Fu’s idea of liberty based on a close and contextualized reading of his Lectures on Politics (1906), which he adapted from John Seeley’s Introduction to Political Science (1896). Yan’s creative interpretation of Seeley’s account of liberty exposes his own persistent views and tendencies. Specifically, Yan’s text adopts Seeley’s literal, neutral concept of liberty while extending its use as security against political tyranny. Yan shows consistent recognition of liberty in the latter sense, while his statist discourses expose potential tolerance of oppression for the sake of the collective good. Yan’s lectures also reveal his more limited libertarian spirit that underpinned his statism, brought out and conceptually strengthened by Seeley. This statism was, nevertheless, mitigated by the liberal dimensions he maintained. Overall, Yan’s idea of liberty is a highly complex one, meaning that a one-sided assessment as either liberal or nationalistic is untenable.

Fighting economic crime during the pandemic: a Sri Lankan perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the dual crisis in Sri Lanka during the pandemic. The health crisis was followed by democratic backsliding which directly impacted the fight for economic crime. The pre-pandemic political commitment to fight corruption is assessed with the pandemic environment and the policy decisions by the Government. Sri Lanka was a detailed case study of how politicians exploited the pandemic environment to suppress democracy and move their semi-autocratic agenda forward. However, Sri Lanka was not the only nation that faced such autocratic sentiments losing the democratic values. This paper discusses recommendations for improving the resources and investment to address economic crime in Sri Lanka.Design/methodology/approachSecondary data was used for the analysis introducing a theoretical framework referring to the work of Michel Foucault and Francis Fukuyama. The secondary data was used to develop an argument aligning political science with economic crime.FindingsThe Government disciplinary project launched during the pandemic directly impacted Sri Lankan democracy and structural changes made to the constitution. The heavy militarization was a sign of departure of long-cherished values of democracy in the country. Political clientelism backed by nepotism interfered with judicial independence and the fight against economic crime. Many accused, including those responsible for the largest corruption scandal, were not punished. The trust deficit has widened significantly between authorities and the public on fighting corruption in Sri Lanka.Research limitations/implicationsThere are more factors for democratic backsliding than what is presented in this paper. The economic crime environment in Sri Lanka has many dimensions and the paper only highlights a few areas limiting to the secondary data available.Originality/valueThe paper discusses a unique perspective on how a pandemic could be misused to strengthen the autocratic rule and make structural changes to a nation, including constitution amendments. The pandemic environment was used to commit economic crime and suppress public opinion projecting the health crisis in the lockdown environment.

Exploring the Literary Representation of Trauma in Contemporary Iraqi Fiction from Socio-historical Perspective

The present study aims to critically review the aspects of war in selected Iraqi war novels— Sinan Antoon, The Baghdad Eucharist (2017), Corpse Washer (2013) Zauhair Jabouri, The Corpse Hunter (2014)—that focus on depicting vividly the traumatic experiences of Iraqi, particularly after the US-led invasion of Iraq 2003 and how these novels could recur constantly to humanist themes and traumatized figures, the psychological suffering of minorities and the oppressed. In other words, it aims to make visible specific historical instances of trauma in Iraqi war fiction. The present study undertakes an in-depth investigation of the socio-political and historical dimensions of Cathy Caruth’s literary trauma simply because trauma experiences in Iraq were emanated from several causes such as social injustice, the oppression of minorities, political despotism, and the persecution of religious minorities, the displacement of Iraqis from the homeland, and the genocidal policies of jihadist. The study has found that Iraqi war fiction depends on the stylistic technique of repeating certain expressions, phrases, and lexical items to intensify the extraordinary events. It is a narrative of traumatic haunting known for its non-linear and circular style that often leads to ambiguity where readers are often unable to decode the authorial intentions, deriving its ambiguity from the traits of dreams and nightmares, the interpretations of which are continually and unredeemably haunted by the memory of loss.

Trauma, Guilt, and Shame in Ba Jin's Random Thoughts

Trauma, Guilt, and Shame in Ba Jin's Random Thoughts Min Yang (bio) Random Thoughts (Suixiang lu) is the last major literary work that Ba Jin (1904–2005), one of the greatest modern Chinese writers and cultural icons, completed after the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). It is also one of a few literary works to report the trauma of the Cultural Revolution that had troubled his generation of intellectuals. Ba Jin called his generation Children of the May Fourth Movement, or the May Fourth generation, in that they were enlightened by humanism, democracy, and science advocated during the May Fourth Movement from the mid-1910s to the 1920s (2009, 63). They emerged as predominant writers and cultural icons in the 1930s and 1940s, were recruited as sympathizers with or believers in socialism after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established its power in 1949, but were attacked in political movements during Mao's period between 1949 and 1976. During the Cultural Revolution, most of this generation became immediate targets of mass violence. Labeled as "cow ghosts, snake demons," they were dehumanized, humiliated, and tortured. The trauma they experienced beyond physical injuries inflicted deep wounds in their souls. This article takes Random Thoughts, a collection of 150 essays, as an example to study how the May Fourth generation who survived the Cultural Revolution recognized and coped with the trauma of the Cultural Revolution. I study subtlety and ramifications of narratives in the essays. I demonstrate that these essays, rather than consistently taking one particular narrative form, such as memoir, confession, or autobiography (Lin 1993, 172; Martine 1992, 227; Zhang 2015, 36; Chen 1996, 86), present peculiar fragmentations that feature inconsistency, dissonance, ambiguity, and repetition. I argue that these fragmented narratives suggest a deeply traumatized Ba Jin who endeavored, albeit painfully, to reconstruct his integrity, identity, and humanity, all of which were shattered during the Cultural Revolution. I also advance that this reconstruction transpires in a protracted and yet dynamic process in which Ba Jin coped with his post-traumatic guilt, which he initially denied, gradually explored, and eventually confronted in his protracted contemplation. [End Page 155] Ba Jin: From Anarchism to Communism Ba Jin (the pen name of Li Feigan) was born into an aristocratic family in Chengdu, which was strictly controlled by autocratic rulers and Confucianist values. In 1920, inspired by Emma Goldman (Russian anarchist, 1869–1940), the fifteen-year-old Ba Jin became an enthusiastic anarchist. He studied in Paris between 1927 and 1929, and during this period he completed his first novel, Destruction. Destruction provides a self-portrait of Ba Jin through a fervent anarchist protagonist who seeks his freedom by challenging the entire reality of the world (Song 2017, 333). In 1931, Ba Jin published his most celebrated novel, Family, which depicts contradictions between the young generation, who were enlightened by the May Fourth Movement, and the old generation, who repressed the young generation by patriarchal and feudal values. The novel expresses Ba Jin's rebellious and absolute refusal to compromise with feudalism, which shaped many urban young people's political attitudes in the 1930s (Rapp 2015, 3). Family and Ba Jin's numerous other literary works made him one of the most popular Chinese writers in the 1930s and 1940s, second only to Lu Xun (Kaldis 2016, 412). Given that Chinese anarchists originally were tied to the Nationalist Party (the opponent of the CCP before 1949) (Dirlik 1989, 420–21), Ba Jin's identity as an anarchist put him into an unsettled position requiring self-reformation and self-denunciation during Mao's period. Ba Jin launched a series of anti-anarchist activities in the 1950s. He aggressively revised his previous novels by removing the parts that embodied anarchism, and he wrote many essays and stories to extol communist war heroes and other new people of the socialist society. After his youth as an anarchist, Ba Jin made his peace with the CCP (Larson and Kraus 1989, 156). However, this peace did not last long. Ba Jin's self-denunciation and self-reformation did not spare him from verbal and physical attacks during the Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards (teenagers who were mobilized to conduct the massive violence...

Political Regime Types and Revolutionary Destabilization Risks in the Twenty-First Century

In this paper, we report the inverted U-shaped relationship between the regime type (on the autocracy — democracy scale) and the risks of revolutionary destabilization. Autocracies tend to be more vulnerable to revolutionary destabilization than full autocracies or consolidated democracies. We would also point at a strong positive correlation between the weakening of autocracies and the risks of revolutionary destabilization that exists among full autocracies. We also observe a certain asymmetry of the U-shaped relationship with full autocracies being far more vulnerable to revolutionary destabilization than full democracies, and with partial autocracies being far more vulnerable to revolutionary destabilization than partial democracies (with factional democracies being the most exposed type of partial democracies). We hence answer the question posed in the late twentieth century if the era of revolution ends with the spread of democracies. The analysis suggests that this will not happen in the foreseeable future. On the one hand, our analysis confirms that consolidated democracy is the most efficient mechanism preventing the emergence of any serious attempts to overthrow power via revolutionary means. However, on the other hand, less than a third of contemporary democracies are consolidated, whereas most of the twenty-first century democracies are partial (a third of which, in turn, are factional democracies); and, as our analysis suggests, revolutions are rather probable in partial democracies (and are even more probable in factional ones). In addition, full autocracies that start moving toward democracy and shifting to partial autocratic rule have increased risks of revolutionary destabilization, which explains why the contemporary global spread of democracy was associated with a rise — rather than a decline — of revolutionary activity. Also, as we find, revolutionary events, e. g., revolutionary movements without revolutions and analogues of revolutions, are quite possible in consolidated democracies. Finally, strong forms of revolutionary destabilization are quite possible in cases when consolidated democracy de-consolidates, which also suggests that the era of revolutions is not going to end in the foreseeable future.

The Sources of Aleksander Pushkin’s “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel”: the West, the East, or Russia?

The essay focuses on A. S. Pushkin’s last fairy tale, which he wrote in 1834, during the “Boldin autumn” period. Researchers have offered diverse interpretations to this complex and enigmatic text that embraces Russian folk themes interlaced with both western European and eastern imagery. Suggested rationalizations of “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel” have relied on Theodor Benfey’s “indianist theory” or on the local identity context, while other numerous diverse interpretations have pointed to conspiracy theories, the ideas of freemasonry, dystopianism, and the criticism of the absolutist rule. Still others saw this fairy tale as a covert autobiography, or a display of disguised eroticism in the spirit of the folk laughter culture, or as being influenced by the ideas of Islam, or as hinting at Russian mystic and ecstatic sectarianism. Having endeavored to examine the sources of “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel”, the author approaches it based on the comparative-historical method with the help of literary anthropology. According to L. L. Selivanova, the great poet composed what would be accepted as a genuine Russian folk fairy tale by creatively reworking all the available western and eastern material, Russian lubok culture, and even literary hoaxes.

Offline: Is democracy good for your health?

What is the best political system to protect and advance health? In 2019, Thomas Bollyky, who directs the Global Health Program at the US Council on Foreign Relations, and colleagues reported evidence in The Lancet suggesting that democracies are better than autocracies for delivering gains in health. Advantage America, he seemed to be saying. The argument is superficially convincing. Democracies sharpen the accountability of governments to their citizens. Free and fair elections create incentives for political leaders to pay serious attention to the wellbeing of voters. Perhaps global health advocates need to be in the business of promoting democracy. But then COVID-19 struck. Democracies stumbled. Some autocracies seemed better able to take the tough decisions needed to get a pandemic under control. But next week, US President Joe Biden hopes to rehabilitate democracy. He is hosting the first of two Summits for Democracy, intended to ignite a movement “for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action”. Biden has three objectives: to strengthen defences against authoritarianism; to fight corruption; and to promote human rights. 110 countries, from Albania to Zambia, together with the EU, have been invited to the virtual gathering. The presence of some countries at the Summit has already provoked controversy. The Chinese Government is not pleased that Taiwan has been included. Beijing considers Taiwan to be nothing more than a province of China and has complained that Biden has made a “mistake”. Not the best of starts. There is also an important caveat to consider. Before President Biden's guests trumpet democracy as an instrument to improve human wellbeing, they will need to be clear about what democracy is and what it is not. We may think that democracy has something to do with majority rule. But Josiah Ober, a professor of classics and political science at Stanford University, has spent much of his career stripping away the dazzling adornments of liberal democracy (personal autonomy, natural rights, and social justice) to discover what he believes is democracy's true underlying meaning. What was the problem democracy was trying to solve? As human settlements grew, the challenge their inhabitants faced was how to divide responsibilities to fulfil particular tasks—in a single word, cooperation. Demokratia stood for two ideas: people (demos) and power (kratos). Democracy was created to enable people to do things. The prerequisites for cooperation, according to Ober, were three-fold. To be free to think, speak, and associate with others. To be able to contribute equally to the whole community. And to be committed to the dignity of each member of that community. Ober calls this political system, partly realised in classical Greece, basic democracy—self-government by a diverse body of citizens. This basic form of democracy sought to deliver prosperity, security, and lives lived without having to submit to autocratic rule. Ober insists that the “positive value” of basic democracy has been obscured by its relatively recent liberal turn. He places a special premium on the importance of participation (rather than representation). The success of a democracy depends on everyone contributing to its goals of prosperity, security, and non-tyranny. And the necessity of that participation entails that democracies provide education and welfare guarantees (health, food, and housing) to optimise those contributions. The implication of Ober's argument is that citizens should play a more direct part in democratic life. In his book, Demopolis (2017), Ober ends with a warning: “A good deal of human misery has attended twenty-first-century policies of ‘democracy promotion’, notably in the Middle East.” Moreover, Ober is concerned that liberal democracy may not be able to solve the complex crises facing our world today. If liberal democracy fails, as it has done during this pandemic, the public might lose faith in its efficacy and, over time, be susceptible to the attractions of more authoritarian rule. But the choice we face is not between liberal democracy and autocracy. Rather, it is to understand that there exists a non-liberal version of democracy, which is still able to deliver security, prosperity, liberty, equality, dignity, education, and wellbeing, including health. President Biden's efforts to renew democracy deserve support. But the value of democracy lies not in its liberal form, but in something much more fundamental—and that is what we must defend against populist and totalitarian regimes. How to fix democracy to fix health careGlobally, we are seeing a side-effect of COVID-19: political violence.1 This effect usually shows itself in three steps: denial of scientific evidence, judgement of the intentions of political decision makers as a conspiracy, and civil disobedience and street violence. Full-Text PDF

A Thomistic Just Rebellion Analysis of the U.S. Capitol Insurrection

AbstractOn January 6th, 2021 following a ‘Save America’ rally held by President Donald Trump, supporters violently attacked the U.S. Capitol with the aim to stop Congress’ verification of election results certifying President elect Joe Biden. The subsequent press coverage on this tragedy provided a variety of labels for the violence: insurrection, rebellion, riot, protest, etc. To understand what type of act this was, I utilize Thomas Aquinas distinction of ‘sedition’ and ‘rebellion’ as a conceptual model. I argue that the attack on the Capitol was a form of political sedition, which Aquinas held to be an immoral and unjustified attack on proper political authority. In connection with this claim, I discuss Aquinas’ political theory and his criteria of a justified armed rebellion against political tyranny as a way to understand the events at the U.S. Capitol and to help us think clearer about legitimate and illegitimate civilian political violence in the future.

Coup Agency and Prospects for Democracy

AbstractThis research note introduces new global data on military coups. Conventional aggregate data so far have conflated two distinct types of coups. Military interventions by leading officers are coups “from above,” characterized by political power struggles within authoritarian elite coalitions where officers move against civilian elites, executive incumbents, and their loyal security personnel. By contrast, power grabs by officers from the lower and middle ranks are coups “from below,” where military personnel outside of the political elite challenge sitting incumbents, their loyalists, and the regime itself. Disaggregating coup types offers leverage to revise important questions about the causes and consequences of military intervention in politics. This research note illustrates that coup attempts from the top of the military hierarchy are much more likely to be successful than coups from the lower and middle ranks of the military hierarchy. Moreover, coups from the top recalibrate authoritarian elite coalitions and serve to sustain autocratic rule; they rarely produce an opening for a democratic transition. Successful coups from below, by contrast, can result in the breakdown of authoritarian regimes and generate an opening for democratic transitions.

How was the army of the Alash state built?

It was 1919, that is, on the eve of the mutual acknowledgement of the Alash Autonomy and the Soviet rule of each other and the incorporation of the Kazakh Autonomy in the USSR. However, historical facts confirm that the leader of the Kazakhs was attempting to build a national army, a fully legal one, even during the period of the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907, therefore in the period of the autocratic rule of the colonial empire, despite a number of insurmountable obstacles that seemed to stand in the way. The article is devoted to a historical analysis of the process of creating a legal national army of the Kazakh population and the political legalization of the Autonomous State of Alash on the territory of the Russian Empire in the late 19th – early 20th century. The leader of the Kazakh National Movement “Alash”, Alikhan Bukeikhan was attempting to build a legal national army even during the period of the first Russian Revolution 1905-1907. However, he achieved his goal only after the February Revolution of 1917 – on the eve of the civil war, launched by the Bolsheviks.The leader of the Kazakh National Movement “Alash”, Alikhan Bukeikhan was attempting to build a legal national army even during the period of the first Russian Revolution 1905-1907. However, he achieved his goal only after the February Revolution of 1917 – on the eve of the civil war, launched by the Bolsheviks