Economic crisis spells end for ‘growth autocracy’?

The global economic crisis has claimed its share of victims within established democracies, with governments falling or tottering on the brink of collapse as voters allocate blame for mismanagement or incompetence. But the crisis will have a more profound impact on authoritarian regimes, claims Joshua Kurlantzick.

Lacking the political legitimacy that genuine democracy brings, their fragile social compacts – based on prosperity in exchange for docility – are fraying as they fail to deliver the growth, jobs and security that underpinned their performance-based credibility. Given current trends, claims Kurlantzick, “we will see the end of that distinctive phenomenon of the late 1990s and early 21st century: the growth autocracy.”