Abstract
This article argues that neo-authoritarian regimes – meaning those autocratic regimes that emerged after the end of the Cold War and during the fourth wave of democratisation – do not recur to ideology for legitimising their regime as totalitarian regimes in the 20th century did. Three objectives will be pursued on a conceptual level: firstly, to make a case for a narrow notion of ideology that includes the theoretical findings of classic 20th century totalitarianism research and is linked to the totalitarian subtype. Secondly, to argue that Linz’s feature of mentality is lacking discriminatory power for being an analytical category covering the legitimation basis of authoritarian regimes. And finally, thirdly, to introduce ‘mission’ as a concept that is defined as analytically different from ideology and characterises the legitimation efforts of authoritarian regimes in order to secure their persistence. An explorative analysis looks at the construction of such missions in three cases: Venezuela, Russia and China.
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Beitrag argumentiert, dass neo-autoritäre Regime – damit sind jene gemeint, die nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges und während der Vierten Demokratisierungswelle entstanden – nicht auf Ideologien zurückgreifen zur Legitimierung und Bestandssicherung ihrer Herrschaft, so wie dies in Bezug auf die totalitären Regime des 20. Jahrhunderts der Fall war. Konzeptionell werden drei Ziele verfolgt: Erstens wird für einen engen Ideologiebegriff plädiert, der die theoretischen Erkenntnisse der klassischen Totalitarismusforschung des 20. Jahrhunderts aufnimmt und am Subtypus totalitärer Systeme angekoppelt ist. Zweitens wird erläutert, dass das diffuse und als analytische Kategorie schwierig zu handhabende Linz’sche Merkmal der Mentalität kein geeignetes Konzept ist, um die Legitimationsgrundlage autoritärer Regime zu erfassen. Drittens, wird Mission als Begriff und Konzept eingeführt, das in analytischer Differenz zu Ideologie definiert wird und die Legitimationsbestrebungen autoritärer Regime kennzeichnet. Die explorative Analyse betrachtet die Konstruktionen solcher Missionen an drei Beispielen: Venezuela, Russland und China.
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Notes
This is particularly true for US research, which is heavily institution-oriented; between 2001 and 2007, just 0.3% of presentations at APSA annual meetings dealt with the issue of legitimacy (Gilley 2009, p. xii). In the German-speaking world, meanwhile, several conceptually advanced models have been put forward (Gerschewski 2013; Gerschewski et al. 2013; Kailitz 2013; Kailitz and Köllner (2013); for the international dimension see Holbig 2010; Kneuer 2013).
One of the few exceptions is Gerschewski (2013).
A detailed discussion on the notion of ideology and such imprecisions is provided by John Gerring (1997).
Not all cases of (re)autocratisation can be covered with these categories, but such a classification is still helpful for an initial overview.
As this is explored at length in the introduction of this volume, a detailed derivation will be omitted in this article.
What is interesting is the “rediscovery” of the notion of ideocracy (see Backes and Kailitz 2014). All the same, as long as ideology is used in the narrow sense set out above, no further term is necessary to cover the phenomenon of legitimation qua ideology (i. e. in totalitarian regimes). Rather, a term is needed for those cases of legitimation in non-totalitarian regimes.
One of the few exceptions is Lambach and Göbel, who argue that a focus on structural features in the relationship between rulers and governed omits essential facets of legitimation strategies. They emphasise discursive power, through which “regime-compatible messages [are conveyed] with the aim of engendering corresponding attitudes” (Lambach and Göbel 2010, p. 86).
The presence of digital media has expanded the opportunities for autocrats to communicate directly with citizens (through blogs, chats, Twitter etc.). Authoritarian deliberation, as authors such as He and Warren (2011) show using the example of China, therefore plays an increasing role even over social media (see Noesselt 2013). How this should be classified in terms of input legitimation is, for the time being, yet to be explored.
It is interesting that despite the Bolívarian Revolution being highly personalised by the charismatic figure of Chávez, the system did not promptly collapse after his death in 2013.
This is the case with the major energy corporations Rosneft and Sibneft, but also in aerospace, automotive and heavy industries.
See Laqueur (2015), pp. 118–131 for details.
This does not contradict interpretations that see an ideological self-assurance in these concepts, if we interpret drawing on existing Marxist, socialist or Maoist values as an attempt to justify the existence of the Leninist party while at the same time making no less use of other legitimation patterns such as borrowing from traditional Chinese culture, patriotic values and the national spirit (Holbig 2007, 2013; Noesselt 2015). The difference can be explained by recourse to a narrow or broad definition of ideology. There is consensus that ideational thought and value systems have been heavily instrumentalised in China, particularly recently.
Between 2003 and 2013, China completed five successful manned space flights besides managing to shoot down an old satellite, test an anti-ballistic missile and develop an aircraft carrier as well as a stealth plane. With regard to space flight, China is looking to distinguish itself in an area where the USA has had its activities scaled back for some time.
Unlike the “American Dream”, which is associated with personal success on the basis of individual efforts, the “Chinese Dream” is geared toward patriotism and emphasises the collective (Fasulo 2015, p. 18)
It should be mentioned here that the use of repressive measures can also increase in such situations. This correlation between legitimation and repression requires further analysis.
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A previous version of this paper has been presented and discussed with colleagues from the German Institute of Global Area Studies (GIGA) Hamburg during my stay as guest researcher in 2016. I thank the IDCAR colleagues and especially André Bank, Bert Hoffmann, Heike Holbig and Thomas Richter for their thoughtful comments. Likewise, I thank Raphael Peresson and Katya Wagner for their feedback on the empirical parts. Finally, this paper benefitted from the exchange with the guest publishers and the constructive reviewers’ input.
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Kneuer, M. Legitimation beyond ideology: authoritarian regimes and the construction of missions. Z Vgl Polit Wiss 11, 181–211 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-017-0335-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-017-0335-z