BREAKING DOWN DEMOCRACY: Goals, Strategies, and Methods of Modern Authoritarians
MAJOR DECLINES FOR INFLUENTIAL COUNTRIES OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS
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Turkey
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Change in Freedom inthe World Aggregate Score, 2007-2016
weakening of political pluralism. Russia has also moved aggressively against neighboring states where democratic institutions have emerged or where democratic movements have succeeded in ousting corrupt authoritarian leaders.
¢ The rewriting of history for political purposes is
common among modern authoritarians. Again, Russia has taken the lead, with the state's asser- tion of authority over history textbooks and the process, encouraged by Putin, of reassessing the historical role of Joseph Stalin.
¢ The hiring of political consultants and lobbyists
from democratic countries to represent the interests of autocracies is a growing phenome- non. China is clearly in the vanguard, with multi- ple representatives working for the state and for large economic entities closely tied to the state. But there are also K Street representatives for Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Ethiopia,
Venezuela
Hungary
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and practically all of the authoritarian states in the Middle East.
The toxic combination of unfair elections and crude majoritarianism is spreading from modern authoritarian regimes to illiberal leaders in what are still partly democratic countries. Increasing- ly, populist politiclans—once in office—claim the right to suppress the media, civil society, and other democratic institutions by citing support from a majority of voters. The resulting changes make it more difficult for the opposi- tion to compete in future elections and can pave the way for a new authoritarian regime.
An expanding cadre of politicians in democ- racies are eager to emulate or cooperate with authoritarian rulers. European parties of the nationalistic right and anticapitalist left have expressed admiration for Putin and aligned their policy goals with his. Others have praised
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