POL101Y1 Study Guide - Impermanence, Authoritarianism, Social Forces
7 Dec 2012
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Document Summary
Authoritarian systems have been with us longer, have ruled more people , and for all we know may rule more people in the future than democratic systems. Authoritarianism is the residual category of a type of regime that is narrowly defined. Historically new, and often unconsolidated-namely, democracy is inevitably vast and encompasses many different subtypes of regimes. Prospects for the regime have changed because of rapid economic growth and polarization, social turbulence, a rising middle class, and the new freedom of the internet. Chinese system as an authoritarianism of a still poorly understood new type. Mixes statism with entrepreneurship, political monopoly with individual liberty, personalist power with legal procedure, repression has remained vigorous for twenty years. Study of its dynamics will help spark a revival in the analysis of comparative authoritarian systems. Democratic regimes, by contrast, often elicit disappointment and frustration, but the confront no rival form that outshines them in prestige.
