Which is which? Autocracy VS Democracy
How do government control a nation? Illustration: Ratna Sagar Shrestha/THT
The difference between autocracy and dictatorship
In a recent article published by Diplomatic Courier, the rise of autocratic leaders in recent years has experts questioning whether democracy in on an irrevocable decline. In his latest book, Charles Dunst argues that defeating dictatorship and preserving democracy starts at home, but fails to lay out a blueprint for doing so writes Joshua Huminski.
The election of President Donald Trump was said to have an autocracy government, and the rise of “strongmen” across the world gave academics and political pundits alike a moment of pause. Questions about the autocracy government, where the democratic movement would slowly recede were the topic of conversation in Washington and its European counterparts.
Did Trump signify something inherently wrong with democracy, or perhaps the autocracy government? Did Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro portend a generational shift in the country’s democratic experiment? Had President Vladimir Putin and General Secretary Xi Jinping of Russia and China, respectively, won with their autocracy government? Leading figures like the Financial Times’ Gideon Rachman and Anne Applebaum penned books on the rise of the strongman leader and the ecosystem he brought with him.
Read Also:How Democracy Can Defeat Autocracy
On reflection, one would be forgiven for thinking that the risks of autocracy government have faded from the stage. Trump and Bolsonaro are no longer in office, though the former is still in the running to return in 2024. Russia’s autocracy government expanded as they start their invasion of Ukraine, it gave experts something to contemplate and suggest.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, quickly switched from being an autocracy government to become the democratic ideal leader, an elected leader standing up for his country in the face of monstrous barbarism, personified by the autocracy government and increasingly authoritarian Putin.
For Charles Dunst, the author of “Defeating the Dictators,” the real solution to the autocracy government is not through the crucible of conflict, but through self-improvement. If the West can rehabilitate its flagging democracy, address the inequalities, and establish a stronger foundation for the future, then autocracy government will find itself under increasing pressure both by an emboldened West and through internal pressure from its own people.
Read Also:STEERING A SHIP OF STATE THROUGH CRISIS WATERS
