New Authoritarianism – Challenges to Democracy in the 21st century

This book has been based on a special issue of the Polish journal Studia Socjologiczno-Polityczne. Seria Nowa (Sociological-Political Studies. New Series) published by the Institute of Sociology of the University of Warsaw. The issue on neo-authoritarianism (no.2, 2017) – published under my editorship – contained seven papers by Polish and foreign authors. For the present volume three more chapters were added, contributed by Klaus von Beyme, Hans-Georg Heinrich and Nataliya Velikaya. The authors deal with comparative aspects of contemporary authoritarianism. Authoritarian tendencies have appeared in several “old democracies” but their main successes take place in several states which departed from dictatorial regimes recently. The book contains case-studies of contemporary Hungarian, Kenyan, Polish, Russian and Turkish regimes. The third wave of democratization unlike the first and the second, has not been followed by the reverse wave. However, in several countries democratically elected leaders interpret democracy narrowly, as the rule of majority only. Other conditions for democratic government (such as the rule of law, protecting human rights) are ignored. Such system of government differs from the authoritarian model as defined by Juan J. Linz and can best be called “new authoritarianism”. The future of new authoritarianism remains uncertain. Cover New Authoritarianism. Challenges to Democracy in the 21st century Contents From the Editor (Jerzy J. Wiatr) Populism, Right-Wing Extremism and Neo-Nationalism. Differences Between Populism und Right-Wing Extremism (Klaus von Beyme) A Conceptual History of Political Regimes: Democracy, Dictatorship, and Authoritarianism (Adam Przeworski) Some of the Foremost Challenges to the Status Quo. Strong (Wo)man vs Crisis of Democracy (Zygmunt Bauman) The Massive Exchange of Elites as a Mean of Formation of the Authoritarian Regime (Janusz Reykowski) Opposition as a Mirage of Political Field in Russia. Conceptual framework of opposition study (Nataliya Velikaya) From Horthy to Orbán: Neo-Authoritarianism in Hungary (Hans-Georg Heinrich) Authoritarianism with the Electoral face in Africa (Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o) Authoritarian Tendencies in the Polish Political System (Jerzy Jaskiernia) New and Old Authoritarianism in a Comparative Perspect (Jerzy J. Wiatr) Index List of Contributors "The authors deal with comparative aspects of contemporary authoritarianism. Authoritarian tendencies have appeared in several "old democracies" but their main successes take place in several states which departed from dictatorial regimes recently. The book contains case-studies of contemporary Hungarian, Kenyan, Polish, Russian and Turkish regimes"--Publisher's description The authors deal with comparative aspects of contemporary authoritarianism. Authoritarianism tendencies have appeared in several "old democracies" but their main successes take place in several states which departed from dictatorial regimes recently. The book contains case-studies of contemporary Hungarian, Kenyan, Polish, Russian and Turkish regimes