(This is an archived extract from the book Patterns of Power: Edition 2)
An authoritarian government meets the requirement for a sovereign, as described by Hobbes when he argued for the need to delegate power to a person or a group of people to enforce peace and well-being: a governing power that is absolute and unquestioned.[1] He acknowledged that the sovereign might be instituted by “acquisition… where the sovereign power is acquired by force”.[2] When Hobbes was writing, in the 17th century, monarchy was commonplace – but the main thrust of his argument was that any government is better than anarchy. Legitimacy, according to Hobbes, depends upon being able to maintain law and order.
Changes of government, or leadership succession, can bring problems for some authoritarian regimes:
· Dictators are often replaced by a coup d'état, with varying levels of violence.
· Defective democracies, by definition, have elections which are rigged and these may involve violence and intimidation to prop up the ruling party, as in the widely condemned violence in Zimbabwe in 2008.[3] Some elections have led to violent protests afterwards if the result appears to have been manipulated, as in Kenya in 2007.[4]
There are peaceful alternatives, though:
· In some authoritarian countries, leaders can be peacefully replaced by a “selectorate” if they fail to meet expectations.[5]
· The selectorate can also dismiss politicians who abuse their position, as in the Chinese government’s dismissal of Bo Xilai on 10 April 2012.[6]
The selectorate’s processes don’t involve consulting the population, and may lack transparency.
The population is powerless to bring about a change of government in an authoritarian system, except by initiating a revolution. Authoritarian governments try to maintain law and order, to avoid the risk of having a revolution and to keep a firm grip on power; and sometimes they do this by suppressing individual freedom, as described in the next section (6.3.1.6).
© PatternsofPower.org, 2014
[1] Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Part II, Chap. 17:
“The only way to erect such a common power, as may be able to defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the injuries of one another, and thereby to secure them in such sort as that by their own industry and by the fruits of the earth they may nourish themselves and live contentedly, is to confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will: which is as much as to say, to appoint one man, or assembly of men, to bear their person; and every one to own and acknowledge himself to be author of whatsoever he that so beareth their person shall act, or cause to be acted, in those things which concern the common peace and safety; and therein to submit their wills, every one to his will, and their judgements to his judgement. This is more than consent, or concord; it is a real unity of them all in one and the same person, made by covenant of every man with every man, in such manner as if every man should say to every man: I authorise and give up my right of governing myself to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition; that thou give up, thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner. This done, the multitude so united in one person is called a COMMONWEALTH; in Latin, CIVITAS.”
Leviathan was available in May 2014 at http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-contents.html.
[2] Ibid., the end of chap. 17 and the start of chap. 22.
[3] A Guardian article of 19 June 2008 was entitled Zimbabwe's neighbours turn on Mugabe as election violence spreads to new areas, indicating that this was not just a Western perspective on the problem. It was available in May 2014 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/19/zimbabwe1.
[4] The website of IRIN humanitarian news and analysis, which is a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, published a report on 7 January 2008 entitled In-depth: Kenya's post election crisis, in which it stated:
“In the days immediately after the results were announced, gangs of youths blocked Kenya’s main roads and set fire to hundreds of homes of perceived ‘outsiders’. In all, more than 1,200 people were killed and some 350,000 displaced into temporary camps, with an equal number seeking refuge with friends or relatives.”
This report was available in May 2014 at http://www.irinnews.org/indepthmain.aspx?indepthid=68&reportid=76116.
[5] In the abstract of the article Making Autocracy Work, Timothy Besley and Masayuki Kudamatsu defined the term “selectorate” and its role in ensuring good performance:
“Leadership turnover is managed by a selectorate – a group of individuals on whom the leader depends to hold onto power. Good policy is institutionalized when the selectorate removes poorly performing leaders from office.”
The article was available in May 2014 at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/3764/1/Making_Autocracy_Work.pdf.
[6] The BBC reported Bo Xilai's dismissal on 11 April 2012, in an item entitled China calls for support amid Bo Xilai fall-out; this was available in May 2014 at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17673498.