Front | Back |
Hybrid regimes
|
Political systems that have some of the appearances of being democratic, but institutions, processes, laws, and policies are manipulated to keep rulers or elite groups in power.
|
Authoritarian regimes
|
Regimes based on submission to authority, characterized by ruling elites, limited political pluralism, centralized political control, intolerance of opposition, and human rights abuses.
|
Despotism
|
The exercise of absolute power, often characterized by the abuse of the powers of office, arbitrary choices, and the use of violent intimidation. The term is interchangeable with dictatorship, tyranny, and autocracy.
|
Coercion
|
The use of threats, sanctions, or force against groups or individuals as a means of compelling them either to undertake or desist from a particular course of action.
|
Patronage
|
Support, encouragement, access, and privileges bestowed by one individual or organization on another. In the case of authoritarian regimes, the term describes the use of state resources by leaders to reward those providing support to the regime.
|
Absolute monarchy
|
A form of government in which a monarch wields absolute power over a state, and in which all other institutions of government are marginal. Should not be confused with the limited powers of a constitutional monarchy.
|
Personal rule
|
A form of rule in which authority is based less on the office held than on personal and often corrupt links between rulers and their patrons, associates, clients, and supporters.
|
Cult of personality
|
An arrangement in which authoritarian leaders use the media, propaganda, and political institutions to make sure that they dominate how the wider population relates to a political system.
|
Coup d’état
|
An illegal seizure of political power by the military.
|
Islamic Republic
|
A state based on an Islamic constitution and full application of Islamic law (sharia), although the precise role of the latter is sometimes ambiguous.
|
Theocracy
|
Government by religious leaders.
|
Corruption
|
The abuse of office for private gain.
|
Totalitarianism
|
The most absolute form of authoritarian rule, based either on a guiding ideology or the goal of major social change, with total control exercised by a leader, state, or party over all aspects of public and private life.
|
|
|