Work any non-union corporate job. You can’t pick your boss, you have to do what you’re told as soon as possible, and you are under constant surveillance. You’re also expected to publicly act enthusiastic over stupid management policy announcements. Deviate from any of this and you’re punished by losing your livelihood.
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Zero news media criticizing the leader(s)
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Obsession with playing the National Anthem constantly in schools.
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Obsession with Pledges¹ or Flag Raising Ceremonies²
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Mandated Politically related Attires³
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Government involvement in family planning⁴
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Non-violent⁵ critique of leader(s) results in near certain police warning/harassments or detained/arrested
¹USA “Pledge of Allegiance”
²PRC, Flag-Raising Ceremony was done very frequently, I remember it being like either weekly or monthly
³PRC, the “Little Red Scarfs” that symbolizes “Communism”, I didn’t know what that meant at the time
⁴PRC: One Child Policy, forced abortions against the mother’s will, forced sterilizations; On the other side of the coin, in USA: Abortion bans and forced to continue an unwanted pregnancy
⁵PRC: “Xi should resign”; USA: anything Charlie Kirk related, Bald JD Vance memes, anything deemed “anti-ICE”
I don’t know about most of these - nationalism is not necessarily authoritarian. Maybe authoritarians frequently use nationalism as one of their tools to keep the population in line
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You asked for authoritarian, I cited something that defines a different concept.
definition of fascism
Umberto Eco, in 1995, laid out 14 common charactistics that characterize what he describes as ur-fascism, fascist societies independent of the time and place.
- Cult of Tradition – A syncretic belief in ancient truths, rejecting modern interpretations.
- Rejection of Modernism – Viewing the Enlightenment and rationalism as the root of moral decline.
- Cult of Action for Action’s Sake – Valuing action over reflection, leading to anti-intellectualism.
- Disagreement is Treason – Suppressing dissent and critical thinking as threats to unity.
- Fear of Difference – Exploiting xenophobia and racism to unify the in-group against outsiders.
- Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class – Mobilizing those feeling economically or socially displaced.
- Obsession with a Plot – Promoting conspiracy theories to justify aggression against perceived enemies.
- Enemies are Both Too Strong and Too Weak – Portraying adversaries as simultaneously formidable and feeble.
- Pacifism is Trafficking with the Enemy – Viewing life as perpetual warfare, dismissing peace efforts as betrayal.
- Contempt for the Weak – Glorifying strength and dismissing compassion as weakness.
- Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero – Promoting a cult of death and martyrdom.
- Machismo – Elevating aggressive masculinity and denigrating non-conforming sexual behaviors.
- Selective Populism – Claiming to represent the unified will of the people, dismissing individual rights.
- Newspeak – Employing an impoverished vocabulary to limit critical thought. :
Damn, we’re crushing it
Oh boy. We’re already at 13 out of 14 on the checklist.
Which one do you miss?
“Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.” — Mort (1987) by Terry Pratchett
GNU pratchett
Arguably, the Patrician is less authoritarian than the current US head of state. Yes, Vetinari is a Machiavellian despot, but there’s no great leader retorica, no prestige projects, no saber rattling, no lavish court, no scapegoating, and he doesn’t bend or break society to fit his ideals (although there’s tons of nudging and quid pro quo).
This is because he’s every powerful party’s second choice, he would promptly be removed if he upset the delicate dance of Morporkian oligarchy.
A single person, or small group, control everything.
Dissention is not allowed. Those people are removed via various methods from threats, to the jailing, and potentially all the way up to accidentally falling out a window or off a balcony.
You don’t get to vote or if you do it doesn’t matter. There is little to no separation between the three pillars executive, legislative, and judicature. So there is little to no oversight, which leads to a breakdown of the rule of law. People can and will be disappeared. People live in fear and try to adapt, self-censor. Authoritarian leaders need a bogie man, somebody they can blame for all their failures. So an ethnic group, minority, or another country will constantly be blamed for everything from the economy to ingrown toe nails. The elite will get richer, everybody else pretty much won’t.
People live in fear and try to adapt, self-censor. Authoritarian leaders need a bogie man, somebody they can blame for all their failures. So an ethnic group, minority, or another country will constantly be blamed for everything from the economy to ingrown toe nails. The elite will get richer, everybody else pretty much won’t.
Not necessarily. Authoritarians are usually corrupt/incompetent, which tends to lead to these things, but competent dictators with legitimate public support exist, China being the best-known example.
China? The country of Tiananmen Square? The country whose people practically develop an ever-changing coded language to avoid big brother coming down hard on any sort of criticism? The country that runs “reeducation” camps for many who do get caught? The country that has Uyghurs and Tibetans to blame “within,” and Japan without? Or the US? Where senior cadres of the party magically grow richer?
Don’t pin authoritarianism on lack of administrative competence.
The country of Tiananmen Square?
True but irrelevant.
The country whose people practically develop an ever-changing coded language to avoid big brother coming down hard on any sort of criticism?
Yes. I never said that China tolerates criticism, but that doesn’t mean Chinese people live in fear of their government. An incompetent government will have criticism coming from every which way, necessitating draconian measures and exaggerated crackdowns, which does lead to fear (ask me how I know). This isn’t the case for China because, despite their faults and the evil shit they get up to, Chinese people are generally satisfied with their governance. Fear isn’t an automatic result of authoritarianism; it appears when there’s too little carrot and too much stick.
The country that runs “reeducation” camps for many who do get caught?
True but irrelevant.
The country that has Uyghurs and Tibetans to blame “within,” and Japan without? Or the US?
Source? Not for their oppression of Uighurs and Tibetans, or rivalry with the US and Japan, I know about these, but that they’re using any of these as scapegoats for their own troubles. Oppression can be motivated by things other than scapegoating, and it’s not like China is lacking in real reasons to oppose the US and Japan. Without something that corroborates your claim this is just a non-sequitur.
Where senior cadres of the party magically grow richer?
This is just a non sequitur. Senior CCP officials are rich, but the other half of your claim “everyone else pretty much won’t” goes against everything we know about Chinese economic growth.
Source: I’ve lived there for a decade, talked with people, including PSB officers.
Every time China is in trouble, mostly economically, they play up the Japan stuff. There are island disputes, there is historical baggage. They play it like a piano and those are pretty much the only times organized street protests are permitted.
I disagree with you about what you think is irrelevant.
Just imagine a cult of personality. One person who demands/secures blind allegiance such that they are effectively the sole remaining authority on any given topic infected by the cancer, ranging from education to health care to myriad other policy decisions.
A list often used on this topic is from a famous academic and writer you may know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Fascism
Think of the list of political rights you take for granted. The right to voting, free speech, association, peaceful assembly, etc. Those don’t exist or are severely curtailed, meaning that political activity and discourse that anger the ruling class can and will be punished. How much is tolerated and what kind of punishments are doled out varies depending on the strength and heavy handedness of the ruling regime.
every society that does not grant you your basic human rights is considered authoritarian. these include: freedom of speech, freedom of press, fair trials, elections, right to education, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights
*Basic political rights. You can have a perfectly liberal democracy where the average person is one missed paycheck away from starving to death. Education for example has nothing to do with authoritarianism, except that authoritarians tend to benefit from lack of education.
It’s a meaningless term with a non-definition definition. Like that old definition of porn… “I can’t tell you what it is but I know it when I see it”.
Usually used as a way to paint the enemy as “bad”. Except it’s almost always a pot/kettle situation.
Every regime of any kind has laws and rules that are flouted by the ruling classes.
Oh. So authoritarianism isnt real?
I mean it’s real within the context of being used as a term to somehow castigate your enemies for the exact same things you do. And by “you” I mean all governments.
Notice it’s usually the West calling Socialist or Muslim states “authoritarian”?
Same with them throwing around “dictator” when that leader was democratically elected.
I’m not gonna debate this because obviously I’ve struck a nerve with some people, and I find the topic boring, but just wanted to let you know that propaganda reaches deep and some folks are uncomfortable with knowing they licked the boot, even unknowingly.
So all governments are the same, right?
