BREAKING DOWN DEMOCRACY: Goals, Strategies, and Methods of Modern Authoritarians Chapter 8 Back to the Future Until recently, a distinguishing feature of modern of commercialized, well-produced, and often authoritarianism was the ruling group's ability to con- entertaining media outlets. But the state and its solidate political power without resorting to the brutal agents retained direct or indirect control of key tactics that defined the mainstream dictatorships of sectors, manipulated mainstream news cover- the 20th century. age, and kept truly independent journalism on the margins of the information landscape. The political leadership maintained control of the commanding heights of the media while tolerating ¢ Political competition: Most regimes allowed asmall group of critical outlets as a safety valve for multiparty systems to emerge, and held regular dissent and in order to tout the existence of diverse elections, but opposition parties were fabricat- opinions in the news. Reformist nongovernmental ed, coopted, or defanged in practice, allowing organizations (NGOs) were allowed to operate, but the ruling group to retain a de facto monopoly not to grow or gain traction. The regime used violence on power. against its critics, but only sparingly, targeting a few dissidents or independent journalists as a deterrent to ¢ Civil society: Nongovernmental organizations others. And they were careful to keep the number of were permitted to operate, but they were kept political prisoners to a minimum. under close watch and forced to compete with state-sponsored groups. Organizations focusing Perhaps most importantly, modern authoritarian on apolitical topics like public health or educa- regimes generally refrained from overt acts of hostility tion often received less scrutiny than critical toward their neighbors. Some, such as China, boasted human rights activists, who were variously of a policy that sought harmonious, mutually ben- belittled, harassed, or suppressed. efi