While 2025 was a milestone year for democracy, global authoritarian regimes have regained ground and are expanding their reach. To reclaim democracy’s promise, it is necessary to understand how autocracies gain support and how they stifle democratic norms. Jackson School professor Jennifer Gandhi is working to advance our understanding of this phenomenon, from the tactics dictators use to seize power to the psychological underpinnings that allow some people to fall prey to their rule.
Authoritarians typically control the legal system, legislature, executive branch, and military in their countries. They can also use a variety of pseudo-legal rationales to gut institutions and stifle civil liberties. To sustain their power, they must foster fear in the populace and bolster a sense of identity that unites them to the state. To do this, they can foment sectarian divisions, spread lies, and discredit the media or religious or cultural organizations that might expose them.
They also can use violence to suppress dissent, limit democratic participation, and bolster support in competitive elections. These tactics, when coupled with economic and political competition, undermine democracy’s ability to thrive in the long term. While healthy democratic actors eschew violence, autocrats often look the other way or even inflame politically useful violence to offer cover for restrictions on civil liberties and expansion of coercive security measures.
Finally, they stoke societal fear to inflate their own legitimacy by blaming foreigners or other outsiders for social problems. This scapegoating can help them avoid international scrutiny of their repressive policies and extend their influence internationally. This is not a mere academic exercise; authoritarians collaborate globally to push back the boundaries of democracy’s sphere of influence, and they are succeeding.
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