Authoritarian playbook

In political science, the authoritarian playbook is a term used used by Protect Democracy to describe a set of tactics commonly used by aspiring authoritarian leaders to establish control over the politics of a state.

Since the 1990s, authoritarian takeovers have evolved from sudden military coup d'états to incremental takeovers, often under the guise of a democracy. Authoritarian governments have existed in Hungary, the Philippines, Poland and the United States. Viktor Orbán had the Hungarian constitution amended twelve times in his first year in office. Ferdinand Marcos developed a cult of personality as a key of remaining in his role as President of the Philippines for 20 years under a dictatorship marked by political corruption and human rights violations.

Tactics

A 2022 report by the US organization Protect Democracy says that autocrats and would-be authoritarians often rely on the same seven fundamental tactics: scapegoating vulnerable communities; corrupting elections; stoking violence; politicising independent institutions; spreading disinformation; aggrandising executive power, and quashing dissent.

Quashing dissent

Autocrats maintain power through political repression of any opposition and co-option of other influential or powerful members of society. The general public is controlled through indoctrination and propaganda, and an autocracy may attempt to legitimize itself in the eyes of the public through appeals to political ideology, religion, birthright, or foreign hostility. Some autocracies establish legislatures or unfair elections or show trials to further exercise control while presenting the appearance of democracy. Historically, autocrats silenced dissent by employing violence to foster a culture of fear.

Donald Trump has pointed the Department of Justice at media companies, used government review to financially punish at least one media company. ... a key witness involved in impeachment proceedings, from sharing his experiences regarding the Trump-Ukraine scandal.

Authoritarians often attack vulnerable communities: other nations, immigrants, minorities, detractors, and social outcasts. This helps them rally support and categorise dissenting views and interests as irrelevant.

Corrupting elections

In 2020, Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani schemed to overturn Joe Biden's victory by sending in illegitimate electors with false claims of Trump winning states that he in fact lost.

Authoritarian checks on to free and fair elections may include:

  • Control of the media by the authoritarian incumbents.
  • Interference with opposition campaigning.
  • Electoral fraud.
  • Violence against opposition.
  • Large-scale spending by the state in favor of the incumbents.
  • Permitting of some parties, but not others.
  • Prohibitions on opposition parties, but not independent candidates.
  • Allowing competition between candidates within the incumbent party, but not those who are not in the incumbent party.

Inciting violence

Autocrats often glorify or whitewash a particular brand of violence, sometimes psychological violence, or indirect violence like structural discrimination or stochastic [...].