Understanding Authoritarian Regionalism

This article examines the goals, methods, and implications of regional organizations founded and dominated by autocracies—including the Commonwealth of Independent States (spearheaded by Russia), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China), Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Venezuela...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of democracy 2018-10, Vol.29 (4), p.151-165
Main Authors: Libman, Alexander, Obydenkova, Anastassia V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alliances
Authoritarianism
Autocracy
Cooperation
Democracy
Democratization
Elections
Foreign policy
Human rights
International cooperation
International organizations
International relations
Multilateralism
Politics
Power
Redistribution
Regional organizations
Regional variations
Regionalism
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article examines the goals, methods, and implications of regional organizations founded and dominated by autocracies—including the Commonwealth of Independent States (spearheaded by Russia), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China), Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Venezuela), and Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia). It shows the role that these organizations play in preserving and promoting autocracy and the different tools they use for this purpose: rhetorical endorsement; the redistribution of resources to support weaker authoritarian states; and even military interventions to suppress revolution. The existence of authoritarian regionalism poses an important challenge for Western states and institutions in democracy promotion around the world.
ISSN:1045-5736
1086-3214
1086-3214
DOI:10.1353/jod.2018.0070