Authoritarianism
Podcasts
How Helpful Are AI Tools for Autocrats?
In the new episode of our series produced in partnership with the Journal of Democracy, Ferenc Laczó speaks with L. Jason Anastasopoulos and Jie (Jason) Lian about their article, “The Limits of Authoritarian AI.”
4.05.2026
News
Talking Democracy While Tearing It: Authoritarian Conservatism in New Order Indonesia
Indonesian conservative thinkers claimed to save their country from populist socialism of Sukarno and the Left. They dreamed of a democratic polity free from “extremism” and underdevelopment. Instead, what they built was an authoritarian, corporatist, and developmentalist regime. This essay (re)examines their ideological justification for it.
7.04.2026
Podcasts
How Courts Can Hold Authoritarian Leaders Accountable
In many democracies today, elected leaders challenge institutions, undermine electoral rules, and test the limits of constitutional order. Yet legal accountability for such actions remains rare. In this episode of the Review of Democracy podcast, produced in cooperation with the Journal of Democracy, Gabriel Pereira speaks with Luciano Da Ros and Manoel Gehrke about their article “How to Bring Authoritarians to Justice.”
16.03.2026
Podcasts
Anticipating Autocracies: A History of Contemporary China
In this latest conversation, we speak with Minxin Pei about his latest book, The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism (Princeton University Press, 2025), which challenges the enduring assumption that economic development naturally leads to democracy. Pei argues that China’s post-Mao reforms produced not political liberalization but a resilient, adaptive form of authoritarianism.
9.03.2026
News
The Weakness of the Authoritarian Playbook
Across the world, strongmen follow the same playbook to dismantle democracy. But their favorite tool could also become their greatest weakness if democracy’s defenders learn to flip the script.
18.11.2025
Podcasts
The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics – In Conversation with Alexander Dukalskis and Alexander Cooley
The end of the last century brought about what scholars have called a “unipolar moment.” With the fall of the Soviet Union, liberalism lost its enemy on the global stage, which led the United States to try to establish an international liberal order by promoting liberalism transnationally. This latter approach has not only been harshly criticized for often being executed hypocritically and sometimes causing disastrous wars, but also ultimately seems to have failed.
22.10.2025
Podcasts
The Rise of Legislative Authoritarianism –In Conversation with Paolo Sosa-Villagarcia and Moisés Arce
In the latest episode of our special series produced in collaboration with the Journal of Democracy, Paolo Sosa-Villagarcia and Moisés Arce discuss the rise of legislative authoritarianism, compare it with more traditional forms of authoritarian rule, and explore its implications both in theory and in practice.
7.07.2025
Podcasts
Can Courts Save Democracy? In Conversation with Samuel Moyn
Samuel Moyn discusses the risks of focusing too heavily on legality in the fight against rising authoritarianism. Since the beginning of the year, the Trump administration has been trampling on different sectors of the U.S. state. Numerous commentators, both from the U.S. and abroad, have argued that the issue of a potential “constitutional crisis”—one that could pave the way for authoritarianism—essentially hinges on whether the government complies with court orders. In contrast, Professors Ryan Doerfler and Samuel Moyn have argued that this focus is, at the very least, misplaced. So far, rather than protecting democracy, the courts have helped pave the way for the current situation. This raises important questions about the right pro-democratic strategy—not only in the U.S., but also in European countries such as Germany, where the far-right is on the rise and the judiciary is widely seen as the bulwark against authoritarianism. In this conversation, Samuel Moyn explains the [...]
16.06.2025
Podcasts
Can Democracy Deliver? Francis Fukuyama and Beatriz Magaloni on Performance, Legitimacy, and Public Trust
In the latest episode of our monthly special in cooperation with the Journal of Democracy, Francis Fukuyama and Beatriz Magaloni discuss why democratic legitimacy increasingly hinges on governments’ ability to deliver tangible results.
5.06.2025
Podcasts
Authoritarian Waves Crashing: Dan Slater Reinterprets the Third Wave of Democratization
In the new episode of our monthly special in cooperation with the Journal of Democracy, Dan Slater discusses the authoritarian origins of the third wave of democratization.
5.05.2025
Interviews
A Fragile Constitution? – In Conversation with Dieter Grimm
On March 25, 2025, the “new” German Bundestag began its work. While the government will likely consist of the familiar coalition of Social and Christian Democrats, it may face unprecedented challenges. In the new composition of the German parliament, the center parties no longer hold the two-thirds majority required to amend the German constitution—the Grundgesetz. After, in the “old” Bundestag, a parliamentary motion was adopted for the first time since the fall of the Nazi regime, only due to the support of the far right; some commentators have gone so far as to declare the end of the German political center. Shortly thereafter, the far right achieved record polling numbers in the federal elections. These circumstances raise the question of whether the German legal system is resilient enough to withstand periods of political instability. While the German Constitution is widely regarded as a success, some argue that it has primarily functioned as a “Schönwetter-Verfassung”—a [...]
27.03.2025
Podcasts
Authoritarian Regimes Learn from Each Other – In Conversation with Mikal Hem
In our new podcast, Mikal Hem discusses what modern dictators and autocrats seem to have learned from their predecessors, reflects on what might drive voters toward leaders with autocratic tendencies, considers what democratic societies can learn from the survival strategies of dictators, and contemplates how the resilience of free media could be strengthened in autocracies.
12.11.2024
Can the Center Hold? Thomas Biebricher on the International Crisis of Conservatism
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Thomas Biebricher – author of the new book "Mitte/Rechts: Die international Krise des Konservatismus" (Center/Right: The International Crisis of Conservatism) – discusses conservatism’s various types and how each relates to the political center and to authoritarianism; illuminates the contemporary crisis of the center right in three major European countries; explains what has driven the culturalization of politics and the redrawing of enemy images, and why the authoritarian right has been a prime beneficiary of those trends; and reflects on how his approach and special emphases relate and add to other contributions to the ongoing debate on the present state and future prospects of liberal democracy.
18.05.2023
Podcasts
Why Do Autocracies Last? Lucan Way on the Longevity of Revolutionary Regimes
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Lucan Way – co-author, with Steven Levitsky, of the new book "Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism" – introduces what revolutionary autocracies are; explains why they tend to prove much more durable than other kinds of authoritarian regimes; discusses how the revolutionary sequences so crucial for the emergence of such regimes have played out in the various cases across the globe; and reflects on the contemporary relevance of the book’s findings concerning autocratic longevity.
3.11.2022
Democracy as a Way of Facing Obstacles: Lilia Moritz Schwarcz on Brazilian Authoritarianism and the Unfinished Project of Full Citizenship
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Lilia Moritz Schwarcz – author of the book "Brazilian Authoritarianism" – contrasts mythological and critical-realistic versions of Brazilian history; discusses the main facets of authoritarianism in the country; compares the Bolsonaro phenomenon with the Trump one; and elaborates on her vision of democracy and full citizenship.
21.10.2022
