Will this long history of authoritarian rule now be broken?

Then there is Belarus, whose ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, clings to authoritarian rule.

To be sure, authoritarian rule can manage the early stages of industrialization.

MOSCOW The history of authoritarian rule in Russia displays a certain depressing regularity.

Poverty, extreme inequality and public corruption have fuelled authoritarian rule and violence for decades.

Beating up on foreigners may boost his authoritarian rule, but this, too, has a price.

Moldova s reemergence from authoritarian rule after eight years is the result of elections and parliamentary procedures.

Russia provides conclusive evidence of the impotence of authoritarian violence and disregard for the rule of law.

The main theme of the Valdai conference concerned whether Russia s history and geography doomed it to authoritarian rule.

The ordeal s only victor is Putin, who now has grounds to dismiss US criticism of his authoritarian rule.

This disunity reflects the fissures in Syrian society, a result of more than four decades of brutal authoritarian rule.

This has increased demands for social and political rights and greater economic opportunity, placing authoritarian rule under growing strain.

Lukashenko hopes that dramatic economic reforms will win Western support, disarm foreign and domestic critics, and achieve economic modernization under authoritarian rule.

A period of authoritarian rule under General Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923 1931) ended with the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic.

The new constitution eliminated the so called authoritarian enclaves by subordinating the armed forces to civilian rule and removing their designated senators from Parliament.

Putin then proceeded to restore authoritarian rule in Russia. Today, Western leaders may well be about to repeat the same mistake with Dmitry Medvedev.

It discredits liberalism by employing liberal rhetoric and appointing liberal leaders to administer its authoritarian rule, leaving political opposition to leftist parties and nationalists.

After decades of authoritarian rule, citizens, frustrated with discredited institutions and paralyzed political parties, have begun to employ social media to organize civil resistance.

Instead of democratic transition, China has witnessed a consolidation of authoritarian rule the strengthening of a one party regime through organizational learning and adaptation.

Like all partial modernizers in authoritarian regimes, Iran s rulers want an advanced economy, technology, and infrastructure, but not freedom, democracy or the rule of law.

At his zenith, many saw Thaksin as a worthy successor to former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, buoyed by authoritarian rule at home and assertive leadership abroad.

The Authoritarian Temptation

Putinism s Authoritarian Allure

Powerful states such as China and Russia are not limiting themselves to authoritarian rule at home, but are also supporting those in other countries engaged in similar practices.

The same is true of some prime ministers, like Thailand's authoritarian Thaksin Shinawatra, who now stands accused of weakening his country's democratic traditions in favor of personal rule.

The collapse of authoritarian rule created a security vacuum with no functioning state apparatus, making Libya highly exposed to international influence, often in the service of corporate interests.

As the Muslim Brotherhood s rule became increasingly authoritarian, it trampled on the ideals and aspirations of the Tahrir Square revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

NEW YORK Many factors underlay the ongoing upheavals in the Middle East decades of corrupt and authoritarian rule, increasingly literate and digitally connected societies, and skyrocketing world food prices.

Southern governors countered that the north had controlled the country through more than three decades of authoritarian rule and that a southerner should hold the presidency for years to come.

Sudan s authoritarian rule and social division along religious lines, together with economic difficulties and political ineptitude, precipitated the collapse of the central government s authority in the country s Christian majority south.

The Age of Authoritarian Democracy

The Myth of Authoritarian Growth

In Guinea, despite 24 previous years of authoritarian military rule, the population largely supported the December 2008 bloodless coup staged by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara s immediately following President Lansana Conté s death.

The main theme of the Valdai conference concerned whether Russia s history and geography doomed it to authoritarian rule. If democracy was the wave of the future, was Russia destined to miss out?

The post communist turmoil led to the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Czechoslovakia, fueled Yugoslavia s wars and ethnic atrocities, and brought forth authoritarian rule and imperial revanchism in Russia.

Moreover, Putin s Kremlin has used the West eager for engagement and a policy reset with Russia to legitimize its authoritarian rule and to provide opportunities for its venal cronies integration into Western society.

Russia reverted to a neo authoritarian system.

Essentially, the concept has served to justify collectivist authoritarian rule by aligning it with local tradition and culture, with autonomy defined in terms of otherness that is, differentiation from the West and its values.

In particular, China s breathtaking economic success seems to point to the existence of viable authoritarian alternatives to the Western idea that freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and the market economy are bound together.

Its malaise has raised questions about whether its democratic capitalism will survive the economic challenge posed by authoritarian and quasi authoritarian regimes.

Authoritarian countries middle classes may push their leaders toward greater democracy, as in Russia, but Western democracies will also likely become more authoritarian.

Unfortunately, while angry protesters have sometimes forced unwelcome rulers out of power, they have been unable to replace tyrants with governments that respect the public s wishes. Will this long history of authoritarian rule now be broken?

At the same time, if the US sets the bar too high at the outset, it will deny itself an effective role in helping to move Burma away from authoritarian rule and into the world community.

Only then we will know if the trade off at least made sense, even if for many it was unacceptable authentic social justice and progress in exchange for authoritarian rule, international ostracism, and a cultural desert.

Today, the Kremlin is contributing to its own violent demise, intentionally demoralizing Russian society. It discredits liberalism by employing liberal rhetoric and appointing liberal leaders to administer its authoritarian rule, leaving political opposition to leftist parties and nationalists.