All my life I have studied democratization and autocratization. My 1st field trip was to newly democratic Argentina. I then added autocracies to my portfolio: Cuba, Ven, etc. I think I can recognize the stages of transition to authoritarianism. Here are the boxes checked off.
Javier Corrales
3,816 posts
Comparative Politics: I've been studying Latin America and the Caribbean for decades, and the region still manages to shock me.
Joined August 2011
- Replying to @jcorrales20112. Ruling party acts like a rubber stamp. They like his policies and/or fear his retribution. Either way, they never say never.
- Replying to @jcorrales20111. President thinks he is saving the country.
- Replying to @jcorrales20114. Colonize the federal bureaucracy. Fire the staff. Replace them loyalists.
- Replying to @jcorrales20113. Overuse of executive orders, including declaring national emergencies.
- Replying to @jcorrales20115. Defund institutions as a way to force compliance.
- Replying to @jcorrales20117. Mobilize hate across society. Encourage people to develop intense hate of some out-group (illegal immigrants, trans folks, ethnic minorities, Hollywood celebrities, elite colleges, dissenters).
- Replying to @jcorrales20116. Trash-talk institutions that the govt dislikes. Treat them as guilty actors and harming agents, without conducting reviews or involving court procedures. Justify their purges as efforts to save taxpayers' money
- Replying to @jcorrales20118. Replace the rule of law with autocratic legalism, which means: for my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law. Autocratic legalism requires you to end the independence of the justice department
- Replying to @jcorrales20119. Harass the free press. Create a hierarchy: good press (treat me kindly), full access; bad press, no access. Entangle news organization in legal battles
- Replying to @jcorrales201111. Defy the courts. Make sure you have a conflict with the court, so that you can counterattack them en bloc
- Replying to @jcorrales201110. Create information blackouts.
- Why should the world focus on Venezuela? What the opposition has demonstrated is historic, with implications for the future of liberty in the world. Let me explain. Thread
- Ahora en español: ¿Por qué debe el mundo prestarle atención a Venezuela? Lo que demostró la oposición es histórico, con consecuencias para el futuro de la libertad en el mundo. Lo explico. 🧵

