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Entry tags:	censorship, politics

Authoritarianism - the check-list
Fred Clark provides a pithy look at 'democracy' today - derived from this article by Jonathan A. Becker, 'Putin and the Dawn of the New Authoritarians'. In it Becker provides a DSM-like check-list of traits of the modern authoritarian state, thus:

• Asserts substantial control over the media
• Uses television as a blunt instrument to prop up the regime and discredit its opponents
• Ensures that television stations are in the hands of the state or state sympathizers
• Subjects journalists to defamation suits for even minor criticism of the regime
• Restricts journalists' access to government officials
• Arrests journalists
• Bans or limits opposition protests or rallies
• Detains and beats opposition leaders
• Maintains power through electoral fraud
• Invokes threats to national security as a part of their general press crackdowns
• Censors the Internet

As Fred put it, "The DSM might say that a regime that presents seven of these 11 symptoms could be diagnosed as suffering from a severe case of authoritarian disorder. Presenting only five symptoms might be a case of moderate authoritarianism. In either case, the resulting clinically significant distress or impairment of democratic liberties would require immediate treatment."

See how many *your* country scores! I think the UK currently presents as a mild-but-worsening condition, the US as severe.