Authoritarian Measures Research Articles

Mechanisms of Digital Authoritarianism: The Case of Bangladesh

In the early days of the development of cyberspace in the 1990s, many believed that the internet and associated technologies were immune to government regulations. However, significant shifts have taken place over the past two decades both in terms of internet accessibility and how political regimes across the world have responded to it. Non-democratic governments have attempted to assert political control of the internet by increasingly sophisticated measures. This trend of states increasing their efforts to control the internet is often described as "digital authoritarianism." Although this trend is the subject of much new research, the contemporary mechanisms of digital authoritarianism remain understudied. In this paper, I investigate recent developments in the mechanisms of digital authoritarianism and argue that digital authoritarianism is being implemented through three categories of measures: legal, extralegal, and technical. This paper draws on qualitative evidence from Bangladesh, where the government has undertaken all three measures of digital authoritarianism.

Longitudinal Change in Authoritarian Factors as Explained by Political Beliefs and a Distrust of Science

During the COVID-19 pandemic there have been marked changes in individuals' belief systems (e.g., support for lockdowns) as a result of the threat of COVID-19. In the current study, we investigated whether these belief systems change as a function of changes in the threat of COVID-19. Specifically, we conducted a longitudinal study, with authoritarianism measured at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand and when the threat of COVID-19 was low (i.e., no known COVID-19 cases in the community). A total of 888 participants responded at both timepoints, completing measures of political orientation and distrust of science, in addition to the measure of authoritarianism. We had two hypotheses. First, that liberals would display a more marked reduction in authoritarian submission between Alert Level 4 and Alert Level 1 relative to conservatives. Second, that changes would be mediated by trust in science. Both hypotheses were supported, demonstrating that authoritarianism is sensitive to threat, even for those on the political left, and that trust in science helps to explain these changes. We suggest that fluctuations in authoritarianism may be different across the political spectrum due to underlying belief systems such as a distrust of science.

Analisis Wujud Masalah Sosial dalam Film Kokuhaku karya Tetsuya Nakashima (Kajian Sosiologi Sastra)

This study aims to determine what forms of social problems exist in Tetsuya Nakashima's Kokuhaku film. These causal factors trigger these problems and how to solve the problem using a literary sociology approach. This study employs Wellek and Warren's sociological theory of literary works and Soekanto's theory of existence, sources, and techniques for solving social problems. This study employs a descriptive-analytic method and data gathering procedures gleaned from a literature review. According to the study's findings, there are 27 social problems in Tetsuya Nakashima's Kokuhaku film, including 15 data on societal norm violations in the form of child delinquency, eight difficulties with family disintegration, three crime problems, and one bureaucracy problem. In this video, two causes generate social problems: psychological factors and cultural aspects. Authoritarian measures solve the majority of the social problems in this film.

Pandemic threat and group cohesion: national identification in the wake of COVID-19 is associated with authoritarianism

ABSTRACT Authoritarianism emerges in times of societal threat, in part driven by desires for group-based security. As such, we propose that the threat caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased authoritarian tendencies and that this can be partially explained by increased national identification. We tested this hypothesis by collecting cross-sectional data from three different countries in April 2020. In Study 1, data from Ireland (N = 1276) showed that pandemic threat predicted increased national identification, which in turn predicted authoritarianism. In Study 2, we replicated this indirect effect in a representative UK sample (N = 506). In Study 3, we used an alternative measure of authoritarianism and conceptually replicated this effect among USA citizens (N = 429). In this US sample, the association between threat and authoritarian tendencies was stronger among progressives compared to conservatives. Findings are discussed and linked to group-based models of authoritarianism.

Police soldiers, elite squads, and militia: militarized masculinities and public security discourses in Rio de Janeiro (1995–2018)

ABSTRACT This article investigates how gender representations were mobilized within security discourses by state authorities in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 1995 to 2018. First, we present the state of the art of the feminist international relations debate on gender performativity and militarized masculinities. Then, we analyze political statements and speeches by state authorities, offering new insights into the gendered nature of approaches to security policies in Rio de Janeiro. Our findings suggest that performances of militarized masculinity were crucial elements of public security discourses during the period analyzed. Significantly, we distinguish three main phases of public security policies, characterized by different performances of masculinity: (1) the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, characterized by the representation of law enforcement agents as “police soldiers”; (2) the period of the Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora (UPP) program (2008–2014), characterized by the duality of a more feminine, human rights-centered security discourse and the continuation of the masculine militaristic logic, embodied by “elite squad” units; and (3) a return to the masculine war logic in public security during the federal intervention (2018). We contend that these performances of militarized masculinity contributed to the maintenance of a war logic as a central element of public security throughout Brazil’s democratic period, undercutting non-military approaches to governance and demanding tolerance of authoritarian measures and human rights abuses.

Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and higher meaning in life.

Five studies tested the effect of exposure to authoritarian values on positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and meaning in life (MIL). Study 1 (N = 1,053) showed that simply completing a measure of right-wing authoritarianism (vs. not) prior to rating MIL led to higher MIL. Preregistered Study 2 (N = 1,904) showed that reading speeches by real-world authoritarians (e.g., Adolf Hitler) led to lower PA, higher NA, and higher MIL than a control passage. In preregistered Studies 3 (N = 1,573) and 4 (N = 1,512), Americans read authoritarian, egalitarian, or control messages and rated mood, MIL, and evaluated the passages. Both studies showed that egalitarian messages led to better mood and authoritarian messages led to higher MIL. Study 5 (N = 148) directly replicated these results with Canadians. Aggregating across studies (N = 3,401), moderational analyses showed that meaning in life, post manipulation, was associated with more favorable evaluations of the authoritarian passage. In addition, PA was a stronger predictor of MIL in the egalitarian and control conditions than in the authoritarian condition. Further results showed no evidence that negative mood (or disagreement) spurred the boost in MIL. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Spanish Adaptation of the Left-Wing Authoritarianism Index

Notwithstanding long-simmering controversies around the construct, several studies have gathered consistent evidence of authoritarian attitudes among left-wing voters and activists. Recently, Costello et al. (Clarifying the structure and nature of left-wing authoritarianism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2021) validated, in the English-speaking context, a three-factor scale to measure left-wing authoritarianism, as well as two shortened versions of the same scale (Costello & Patrick, Development and initial validation of two brief measures of left-wing authoritarianism: A machine learning approach, 2021; composed of 39, 25 and 13 items, respectively). In this article, we used three samples (total N = 2586) to validate the structural and construct validity of a Spanish adaptation of these three versions. The resulting scales exhibited an analogous three-factor structure, adequate internal consistency, and convergent and discriminant validity regarding sex, religion, moral exporting, conspiracy theories, social and economic conservatism, and right-wing authoritarianism.

Legislative resistance to illiberalism in a system of coalitional presidentialism: will it work in Brazil?

ABSTRACT Illiberal governments typically attempt to undermine representative democracy by adhering to a single comprehensive doctrine sustained through a majoritarian account of legitimacy that is suspicious of the rationality of liberal constitutional democracies. But perhaps there is hope for a system of coalitional presidentialism, such as Brazil. It has been argued that coalitional presidentialism may be in a better position to resist an illiberal project to erode democracy because of its centripetal and conservative forces, which might constitute a firewall against the concentration of powers in the executive branch. The legislature can either slow the pace of authoritarian measures or subject the government to relevant political defeats, raising the chances of democratic reconstruction. Should we expect success for legislative resistance to illiberal populism? What can the Brazilian experience under the first eighteen months of Bolsonaro's government teach us about it? Even though it might be too early for a conclusive assessment of these matters, we try to offer in the following sections a moderately optimistic response to the first question based on our assessment of the second.

Authoritarianism as pathology of recognition: the sociological substance and actuality of the authoritarian personality

The rise of the notions of authoritarianism and the authoritarian personality is directly linked to pathologies of early modernity and to social constellations that systematically produce dispositions of character that ultimately form the base of Nazi fascism. The aim of this article, thus, is to explore sociological actuality, i.e., the explanatory power and informative value of the concepts of authoritarianism and the authoritarian personality. Therefore, throughout the article, authoritarianism is framed as a social, i.e., relational approach, similar to that of recognition. However, as authoritarianism does not point towards autonomy, it can be read as a pathology of recognition. The text starts by presenting authoritarianism and authoritarian personality as introduced to the academic debate by early Critical Theory, including a description of the historical and intellectual conditions of the time. It then explores three essential elements of these concepts and how they have changed from then to now; namely, authorities, authoritarian measures, and psychological dispositions used to accept both. The sociological tools thus laid open are then used to respond to current questions about authoritarianism using the example of the impact of experts on crisis discourses. Pointing towards discursive mediation, I ask when and how the need to rely on experts fosters authoritarianism. There are basically two ways of understanding authoritarianism as still present in our society. The first is as a backward-leaning ideology of the good old times. Especially in politics, we can find a wish to overcome complex democratic decision-making procedures with strong, authoritarian leadership. The second form involves understanding authoritarianism not as a personal authority but as a swarm authority in the modern and (digital) panopticon. This pathology of recognition leads to alienated relations with others as mere anonymous providers of evaluations.

The West Papua issue in Pacific regional politics: explaining Indonesia’s foreign policy failure

Pacific island countries have paid increasing attention to the situation in Indonesia’s easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua (commonly referred to collectively as West Papua) in recent years, prompted mainly by continuing human rights abuses as well as the more general political and economic marginalization of indigenous West Papuan people since integration with Indonesia in 1969. This article addresses some key questions concerning Indonesia’s failure to deal effectively with the issue. Against a background of reactionary hypernationalism on the one hand, and a rhetorical anti-colonial internationalism on the other, domestic policy with respect to the treatment of indigenous West Papuans has, for the most part, seen a continuation of repressive authoritarian measures. And in responding to international criticisms, foreign policy has been poorly handled. There has been a lack of serious engagement with human rights issues as reflected in ongoing denial of abuses in the provinces and a generally reactive and defensive foreign policy approach. At a bureaucratic level, there is little coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other ministries with responsibilities for West Papua, and therefore no effective basis on which to build a coherent policy response. Another problem consists in Indonesia’s often clumsy public diplomacy in the Pacific islands region. As a consequence, the West Papua issue continues to grow in prominence in Pacific regional politics and beyond.

El combate a la corrupción como excusa para deformar la democracia : un estudio del populismo anticorrupción del lopezobradorismo en México

From an analysis of the main anticorruption policies and reforms of president Lopez Obrador’s government and its legislative majority, this paper shows how the fight against corruption has been used as an excuse to promote populist and authoritarian measures that deform Mexican democracy and generate high constitutional costs.

Gulf states and Islamist responses to COVID-19: a changing relationship

This article focuses on the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Gulf and examines how different responses to the pandemic are affecting the relationship between state institutions and Islamist actors. Several states and regimes are attempting to contain the spread of COVID-19 by imposing increasingly authoritarian measures and tightening social control, which in turn is causing a renewed wave of social unrest. The article shows how, in this increasingly unstable context, the relationships between state institutions and Islamist actors are developing along two main trends. As a response to the pandemic, states in the Gulf are increasingly relying on the mobilisation of Islamic institutions and religious bodies to support lockdown and isolation policies, enlisting Islamic authority to compensate for the decreasing levels of popular trust in the regime. The tightening of authoritarian measures is bringing pre-existing tensions between Islamists and authorities back to the fore, resulting in an increased crackdown on religious opposition actors ad movements. This article shows that, while the extent to which these trends are developing depends on the national context under analysis, different state reactions to COVID-19 are already drastically altering the relationship between political institutions and Islamic ones, affecting both domestic and regional balances of power and highlighting the mutual dependency between religion and politics in the Gulf.

The Postcolonial Bare Life: Reflections on Agamben and the Coronavirus

The ongoing pandemic has undeniably propagated an atmosphere of paranoia and discontent in both the West and the East, and it is in this context where Giorgio Agamben wrote a brief but controversial article where he argues that this pandemic enables governments to opportunistically decree a state of exception that will lead to tyranny. Critics have generally responded negatively to Agamben’s views, given that this is not the case in the West. It is becoming apparent, however, that the very thing Agamben feared is happening in post-colonial states. In this paper, I look at how the current pandemic enables a postcolonial state like the Philippines to define (or redefine) the notion of life through authoritarian measures as it claims a strong democratic mandate. My reflections on Agamben takes off from Rodrigo Duterte’s national speeches during the pandemic. I aim to show that his manifestly militarized response is a manifestation of the sovereign exception that politicizes and separates zo? (which is mere biological life) from bios (which is livable life that can participate politically), as Agamben might put it. Finally, I offer reflections on how the postcolonial legacy of the Philippines could potentially complicate how we might think about the notion of bare life—a figure that is neither zo? nor bios.

An experimental philosophical bioethical study of how human rights are applied to clitorectomy on infants identified as female and as intersex

Clitorectomies performed on the genitals of infants identified as female and as intersex have been described both as similar procedures and as different procedures. The former types of surgery have been recognised more consistently as human rights abuses than the latter in recent decades. We tested social psychological explanations of why human rights are differently recognised when infants are described as ‘intersex’ or ‘female’; 122 laypeople in the UK read one of two near-identical descriptions of clitorectomies performed on intersex or female infants and reported their agreement with 22 items about the human rights of such infants. Clitorectomies were perceived as violating human rights more by women than by men, and more so when infants were described as female than intersex. Endorsement of human rights was better predicted by several psychological variables when infants were described as female than as intersex. Less politically conservative participants, as assessed by a Right-Wing Authoritarianism measure, and participants who trusted medical authority more recognised human rights violations of female infants more than intersex infants. Results are discussed with respect to human rights efforts to protect infants from medically non-necessary genital surgery on the basis of membership in identity categories or possession of sex characteristics.

Combating COVID-19 in Democratic Taiwan and South Korea

South Korea and Taiwan effectively suppressed the coronavirus without the authoritarian measures imposed in China or the lockdowns used elsewhere. They responded quickly, communicated clearly and consistently about the threat. Both governments had prior experiences with contagions to prepare for an epidemic. And both states had introduced universal health care during their periods of democratization, shaping a consensus among citizens about equity, solidarity, and the role of government in protecting public health. Their strategies provide replicable and repeatable models.

Limits on the Press and Civil Society during the Maximato

In October 1931, Governor Bartolomé García Correa and Socialist Party activists violently closed Carlos R. Menéndez’s Diario de Yucatán for being reactionary. Defenders of the Diario denounced the governor for illegally silencing the voice of what today we would understand to be civil society. After a seventeen-month struggle in the courts, the national press, and in Mexico City’s bureaucracy, Menéndez prevailed. This article closely examines the conflict, using regional and national archives and abundant contemporary press coverage, paying careful attention to discursive expression of socioethnic inequalities. It reveals significant limits on the regional independent press and the concept of civil society during the formative period in postrevolutionary Mexico known as the Maximato (the 1928–35 era dominated by Plutarco Elías Calles as hyperexecutive or Jefe Máximo). During the Maximato, the postrevolutionary state employed authoritarian measures to centralize power. The Maximato state, however, could not govern without acknowledging both the Constitution of 1917’s classical liberal civil rights, such as freedom of the press and guarantees of associational life, and the revolutionary political legacy of popular action against “reaction.” In the Yucatecan case, the muzzling of the regional independent press was not simply top-down illiberalism. Yucatecan socialists believed it would help create a more egalitarian and inclusive socio-political order to supplant civil society. The Diario’s exclusivist definition of civil society and the national press’s personal attacks on García Correa reflected widespread beliefs that people of indigenous and African descent were incapable of taking part in civic life. While Menéndez eventually prevailed in the courts, it was due more to his economic and cultural capital and prominent Mexico City allies than to legal protections for press freedom or civil-society resistance. The case helps us to understand how the latter two varied so significantly over place and time in postrevolutionary Mexico, and why Tocquevillian notions of civil society require careful qualification when applied to poor, overwhelmingly indigenous regions of Mexico.

Right-Wing Authoritarian and Explicit Prejudice Attitude Responses to the Paris Terror Attacks: A Within-Subjects Analysis

ABSTRACT When a terror attack occurs people appear to be prepared, in the short term, to be more accepting of authoritarian sanctions against outgroup members, particularly if sanctions are targeted against members of the outgroup perceived as responsible for the attack. The current study examined forty-two British participants’ scores on measures of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and explicit prejudice (EP) before, within thirty-six hours of, and one year after the November 2015 Paris terror attacks. As higher scores on RWA measures have been linked to considering the world as dangerous and threatening, and desiring that authority control and punish transgressors of societal norms, and higher EP scores have been linked to negative perceptions of outgroups, we hypothesized that participants’ scores on both measures would increase immediately after the terror attack. Analyses showed small but significant increases in RWA and EP scores immediately after the attacks, particularly for those initially scoring lower on these measures, but scores on both measures had returned to baseline levels oneyear later. These findings from a within-subjects sample support recent between-subjects research suggesting that RWA and EP attitudes are impacted in the short term by reported terrorist attacks.

Populismo e fake news na era da pós-verdade: comparações entre Estados Unidos, Hungria e Brasil

Nas últimas eleições, figuras populistas de extrema direita emergiram ou se fortaleceram em todo o mundo. Sabidamente, nem todos os governos populistas são iguais. Neste artigo procuramos investigar a cultura política e o uso de fake news nas campanhas/governos desses líderes populistas no Brasil, nos EUA e na Hungria. Primeiramente, discutimos o histórico político de cada país, bem como o perfil de seus governantes e o uso de fake news. Em seguida, aliamos a opinião pública e a cultura política da população presentes nos dois últimos anos eleitorais em cada país. Na terceira e última parte, fazemos comparações entre esses três países, observando mudanças no cenário político digital a partir dos índices do V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy) de 2019.

The ANES Child Rearing Scale: Is It a Measure of Authoritarianism?

Objective: The objective of the research reported in this paper is to determine the meaning of the scores yielded by an administration of the ANES Child Rearing Scale. Methods: An argument is developed that the CRS is scale is measuring “Autonomy versus Conformity”. In support of this claim, scores on the CRS scale for a national sample of United States adults are analyzed using Gutman scaling, correlation, factor, and regression analyses. The overall sample is divided into White respondents on one hand, and Black, Hispanic, and Asian-American respondents on the other on the basis of evidence that CRS scores have different meaning for White respondents in contrast to minority respondents. Results: The results point to the conclusion that the CRS is not a measure of authoritarianism for either White or minority respondents. The results are consistent with the alternative conjecture that the CRS is a measure of “Autonomy versus Conformity.” Results also point to the conclusion that the scores on the CRS have different meanings for White respondents on one hand and minorities on the other. It is concluded that White and minority respondents be treated separately when using the CRS. It is also argued-with supporting empirical evidence-that the CRS is actually measuring liberal/conservatism. Conclusion: It is concluded that the CRS scale is surplus to the analysis of individual differences in attitudes and behaviors with the possible exception of certain circumstances. *The data used for the research reported in this paper are drawn from the ANES 2016 time series study. All calculations were completed using Stata 13. Any errors are the responsibility of the author alone.

Flexibility in Existential Beliefs and Worldview: Testing Measurement Invariance and Factorial Structure of the Existential Quest Scale in an Italian Sample of Adults.

The aim of the present study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Existential Quest (EQ) Scale, a nine-items instrument developed to assess openness to changing one’s own convictions concerning existential issues. We developed the Italian version of the scale and examined factorial structure, internal consistency, discriminant validity, and measurement invariance across gender and age groups. A total of 291 Italian adults were recruited, and they completed a self-report questionnaire comprising measures of authoritarianism, cognitive closure, well-being, and religiousness, alongside the EQ. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the original one-factor structure was replicated in this study, except for one-item that was removed from the subsequent analyses. Both the internal consistency of the eight-item scale as assessed by Cronbach’s α and discriminant validity were in line with those of the original study. However, McDonald’s reliability coefficient were quite low, and further researches employing repeated measures are needed in order to comprehend the contribution of the random error and that of the item specificity in lowering McDonald’s coefficient. Finally, evidence of full measurement invariance across gender and partial measurement invariance across age was obtained. Overall, these findings suggest that the Italian version of the EQ is a promising tool for assessing flexibility about existential issues.