...Kerem Öktem Elections under authoritarian regimes rarely deliver democratic outcomes. Still, most observers and pollsters expected Turkey’s May 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections to be different. A deepening economic crisis, a botched rescue effort after a devastating earthquake...

...Stephen J. King Tunisia was the last surviving democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring, and had recently enacted legislation to combat racial discrimination. But President Kais Saied, since coming to power in a 2019 election, has returned the country to authoritarian rule. He has also rolled back...

... authoritarianism gender discrimination The Taliban have been back in power in Afghanistan for almost two years. There had been hopes that they might chart a different course than they did in the 1990s, creating a more representative government and allowing women greater freedoms. Those hopes have all...

.... [email protected] © 2023 by The Regents of the University of California 2023 Cuba COVID-19 pandemic health care protests legitimacy authoritarianism In 2016, Cuba’s prospects looked bright. Relations between the United States and Cuba had been formally reestablished...

...Diana T. Kudaibergenova Recent events in Kazakhstan show that political art has the potential to be a potent form of protest in some of the most authoritarian states in contemporary Central Asia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, artists in Kazakhstan and elsewhere in the region began turning...

... and an emergent public sphere that created space for democratic debate and cosmopolitan cultural expression. © 2022 by The Regents of the University of California 2022 Afghanistan media public sphere culture authoritarianism Taliban In US foreign policy circles, there is a common sentiment...

... in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California 2021 Middle East energy Gulf States authoritarianism Every day in the news from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), one can find evidence of the massive changes that are coming. The signs began gathering...

... bodily suffering a potent symbol of protest, tapping into a deep Russian tradition of dissent. © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California 2021 Russia Alexei Navalny Vladimir Putin corruption dissent authoritarianism His enemies see him as an illegitimate pretender...

... of environmentalists, feminists, disability rights activists, LGBTQ activists, and members of religious, ethnic, and racial minorities. While this authoritarian trend has deepened since Putin’s return to the presidency in 2012, activists already faced difficult conditions well before then. Over the long term...

...Nancy Ries In authoritarian countries, jokes can allow citizens to mock the system’s absurdities, but they also reinforce the boundaries of speech and thought. A study of humor in Belarus puts the country’s current protests in a new light, just as the old quiescent mentality may be changing...

... the next quarter-century. Neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia transitioned to liberal democracy. Backed by an increasingly assertive Turkey, Azerbaijan prevailed in a bloody war in 2020. This time, the regional authoritarian powers, Russia and Turkey, are overseeing what could be a test case for a new form...

... power, most recently in 2014 in Thailand and 2021 in Myanmar. Fragile democratic governments and international sanctions have proved ineffective in restraining them. © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California 2021 capitalism Thailand Myanmar militaries coups authoritarianism...

... authoritarianism is not due to any one personality or stereotypical “mad dictator,” however (notwithstanding Magufuli’s pandemic denialism, which may have cost him his life). It is part of the legacy of the early postcolonial period and the revered founding president, Julius Nyerere, who set the foundations of one...

... new. Rather, this is part of its DNA. The Egyptian state deals with Egyptians not as rights-bearing citizens, but as a hindrance, a nuisance, even a danger. © 2020 by The Regents of the University of California 2020 COVID-19 pandemic Egypt authoritarianism Since Egypt recorded its...

... in an attempt to foster political stability by bringing in a major opposition leader—and to nullify his ability to criticize the government from the outside. This may have costs for Indonesian democracy. COVID-19 pandemic democracy authoritarianism Southeast Asia Since the early 2000s, democracy...

... that it agree to reunification with the mainland. Chinese pressures on both fronts have provoked local resistance. Taiwan may now become a haven for pro-democracy exiles from Hong Kong. © 2020 by the The Regents of the University of California 2020 Hong Kong China Taiwan authoritarianism Xi Jinping...

... September 2012 and February 2019, had been published by Oxford University Press in Hong Kong in June 2019. © 2020 by the The Regents of the University of California 2020 Xu Zhangrun Xi Jinping China dissent authoritarianism books The evolution of modern China toward constitutional...

...Omar Al-Ghazzi Two authors explore the mixture of violence, ideology, fear, and aspiration that the authoritarian regime has relied on to stay in power for several turbulent decades. The Rule of Violence: Subjectivity, Memory, and Government in Syria , by Salwa Ismail Cambridge University...

...Rachel Harris [T]he entire Uighur population is now regarded as a problem in need of an aggressive solution. © 2019 Current History. All rights reserved. 2019 The Regents of the University of California China Xinjiang authoritarianism Islam Uighurs Central Asia cul 276 [T]he...

... Union Eastern Europe democracy populism authoritarianism illiberalism postcommunist Viktor Orbán Hungary Poland Czech Republic 90 What keeps European states committed to the EU project has not changed: it is economically much better to be inside the bloc than outside. The EU s Eastward...