The Making of an Autocrat: podcast out now |
We used to have a pretty clear idea of what an autocrat was. History is full of examples: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, along with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Viktor Orban today. The list goes on.
So, where does US President Donald Trump fit in?
In our new podcast, The Making of an Autocrat, we asked six experts on authoritarianism and US politics to explain exactly how an autocrat is made – and whether Trump is on his way to becoming one.
This is the step-by-step guide Trump is following, tried and tested the world over by the strongmen Trump seeks to emulate.
Like strongmen around the world, Trump’s first step was to take control of the Republican Party, explains Erica Frantz, associate professor of political science at Michigan State University.
Once a would-be autocrat dominates a party like this, they have a legitimate vehicle to begin dismantling a democracy. As Frantz explains:
Our research has shown this is a major red flag for democracy. It’s going to enable Trump to get rid of executive constraints in a variety of domains, which he has, and pursue his strongman agenda.
Every autocrat needs a clan of loyalists,........