5: International and Informational Sources of Authoritarian Norms

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As previous chapters have explained, democratic backsliding is largely the result of a change in norms and values among elites and the public. This chapter sets out to explore the key factors that drive this trend – the changing international order and new mechanisms to spread authoritarian norms – which is causing some citizens to reject the liberal democratic model. The role of changing norms has been facilitated by different models of authoritarian learning and authoritarian cooperation. In contrast to the past, where authoritarian regimes were more content to focus on their own stability, a handful of authoritarian regimes have become more proactive in authoritarian promotion and the use of sharp power. These regimes have worked to foster norms that are incompatible with democracy, and have stoked hyper-nationalist sentiment in an effort to vitiate civic forms of nationalism. The chapter then explains how authoritarian regimes use social media to promote anti-democratic values in democracies and beyond. Finally, the chapter explores how authoritarian regimes are able to maintain authoritarian rules in the age of the internet. The tactics used by authoritarian regimes to control digital freedom, which have served as a model for backsliding regimes, are also explained.

Historically, the institutions of the global order have mirrored the domestic political cultures of the most powerful countries in the world. International institutions have been a projection of domestic liberalism on a global scale (Ikenberry, 2009). The dominance of Western democracies has meant that the norms of liberal democracy were endorsed around the world. After the fall of the Soviet Union, there appeared to be a consensus that constitutionalism, the rule of law and the protection of individual rights were desirable.

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