Authoritarianism Goes Global: The Challenge to Democracy

252 Pages·2016·1.45 MB·English

by  Larry Jay Diamond

Authoritarianism Goes Global
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Authoritarianism Goes Global
The Challenge to Democracy
Edited by LARRY DIAMOND, MARC F. PLATTNER,
and CHRISTOPHER WALKER
Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2016 Johns Hopkins University Press
and The National Endowment for Democracy
All rights reserved. Published 2016
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Diamond, Larry Jay, editor. | Plattner, Marc F., 1945– editor. |
Walker, Christopher, 1964– editor.
Title: Authoritarianism goes global : the challenge to democracy / edited by
Larry Diamond, Marc F. Plattner, and Christopher Walker.
Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2016] | Series: A
journal of democracy book | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015038214| ISBN 9781421419978 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN
9781421419985 (electronic) | ISBN 1421419971 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN
142141998X (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Authoritarianism. | Democracy.
Classification: LCC JC480 .A93 2016 | DDC 320.53—dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015038214
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more information,
please contact Special Sales at 410-516-6936 or [email protected].
Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials, including
recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent post-consumer waste, when-
ever possible.
contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 3
Part One: The Authoritarian “Big Five”
1 China’s Challenge 23
Andrew J. Nathan
2 Forward to the Past in Russia 40
Lilia Shevtsova
3 Iran’s Paradoxical Regime 57
Abbas Milani
4 Iran Abroad 67
Alex Vatanka
5 Autocratic Legalism in Venezuela 78
Javier Corrales
6 Saudi Arabia’s Anxious Autocrats 96
Frederic Wehrey
Part Two: Arenas of “Soft-Power” Competition
7 Countering Democratic Norms 117
Alexander Cooley
8 Election Monitoring vs. Disinformation 135
Patrick Merloe
9 The Leninist Roots of Civil Society Repression 152
Anne Applebaum
10 Civil Society Under Assault 160
Douglas Rutzen
11 The Kremlin’s Information War 174
Peter Pomerantsev
12 China’s Foreign Propaganda Machine 187
Anne-Marie Brady
13 Cyberspace Under Siege 198
Ron Deibert
14 Dealing with the Authoritarian Resurgence 216
Christopher Walker
About the Authors 235
Index 239
Acknowledgments
This volume emerged from a two-year initiative by the National En-
dowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies
examining the phenomenon of resurgent authoritarianism. This project was
organized around a series of roundtables addressing various aspects of the
broader subject, but also featured a number of larger public presentations.
We extend our deepest gratitude to the participants who played a key role in
these discussions. In addition to those who contributed to this book, these
included Bernard Haykel, Steven Heydemann, Karen Elliott House, Judith
Kelley, Thomas O. Melia, Christopher Sabatini, Jean-François Seznec, and
Jan Surotchak.
We also wish to express our thanks to the Smith Richardson Foundation
(SRF), which provided critical financial support for this project. We are
especially grateful to Nadia Schadlow, SRF senior program officer, Interna-
tional Security and Foreign Policy, for her advice and cooperation.
Christopher Walker, executive director of the International Forum, has
been the driving force behind this project, championing the idea since he
first proposed it in 2014. Given our own long history as coeditors of both
theJournal of Democracy and numerous Journal of Democracy books pub-
lished by Johns Hopkins University Press, we soon saw the potential that
this initiative had for generating articles for the Journal and for eventually
culminating in an edited volume. In fact, we published all fourteen of the
chapters in this book as essays in the Journal between January 2015 and
January 2016.
Once we made the decision to aim at producing a book on this subject,
we immediately thought of asking Chris to join us as a coeditor. Not only
had he led the Forum’s comprehensive study of resurgent authoritarianism,
but he also was instrumental in providing advice as we set about commis-
sioning articles on this subject. We are delighted that he accepted our invita-
tion to serve as a coeditor, playing a central role in drafting the introduction
and also contributing an excellent concluding essay.
vii
In addition, we are indebted to our colleagues at Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity Press. Editorial director Greg Britton provided valuable assistance
and encouragement in the preparation of this volume, and managing editor
Juliana McCarthy, also of the Books Division, helped with the production
process. It has also been a pleasure to work once again with Bill Breichner,
Carol Hamblen, and Angela Taylor of the Journals Division.
Most of all, however, we thank the members of the Journal of Democ-
racy staff for their indispensable contributions to the preparation of this
volume. As always, the essays that follow benefited from the remarkable
editorial efforts of executive editor Phil Costopoulos and senior editor Tra-
cy Brown. Managing editor Brent Kallmer brilliantly met the myriad layout
and production challenges of this volume, and assistant editor Hilary Col-
lins provided substantial assistance in drafting the introduction and manag-
ing the editorial correspondence during the volume’s planning and produc-
tion phases. And we cannot conclude without expressing our appreciation
to the National Endowment for Democracy’s President Carl Gershman and
the Board of Directors for the longstanding support that they have provid-
ed to the International Forum for Democratic Studies and the Journal of
Democracy.
—Marc F. Plattner and Larry Diamond
viii
Authoritarianism Goes Global