Author:
Jeff Inglis
(MENAFN- The Conversation)
If you think a lot is happening in the federal government all at once on a lot of different issues, you're right.
At the beginning of a new presidential administration, there is often a flurry of changes – new Cabinet appointments and a few executive orders. But what's happening right now in Washington, D.C. – actions affecting immigration , tariffs , the firing of career government workers , gender identity , federally funded research , foreign aid and even broader categories of federal spending – is different from most presidential transitions, in volume, pace, content and breadth of the changes ordered.
Administration officials and Trump allies have described all this action as a“shock and awe” campaign intended to“flood the zone .” Translation: It's both an effort to demonstrate autocratic power and an effort to overwhelm and exhaust people who might resist the changes.
The Conversation U.S. has published several articles – many from Donald Trump's first term as president – that spell out how autocrats, and those who want to be autocrats, behave and why. Here are some key points to know.
1. Seize executive power
The move toward autocracy starts with wielding unyielding power over not only people but democratic institutions, explained Shelley Inglis , a scholar of international law at the University of Dayton. In a checklist of 10 items for wannabe authoritarians, the first task, she wrote, is being strong:
Read more:
So you want to be an autocrat? Here's the 10-point checklist
2. Control political backers
When a leader's supporters are more loyal to the person than their political party, that creates what is called a“personalist party,” as scholars of political science Erica Frantz at Michigan State University, Joe Wright at Penn State and Andrea Kendall-Taylor at Yale University described. That creates a danger to democracy, they wrote:
Read more:
Why Trump's control of the Republican Party is bad for democracy
Many Republican Party members back Trump, in part because other party leaders signal their own support.
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
3. Sideline the public
In a democracy, the public has power. But if the people choose not to exercise it, that leaves room for an authoritarian leader to take more control, warned Mark Satta , a professor of philosophy and law at Wayne State University in an article comparing George Orwell's book“Nineteen eighty-four” to modern events:
Read more:
Nationalism is not patriotism: 3 insights from Orwell about Trump and the 2024 election
Donald Trump hugs an American flag as he arrives at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 24, 2024, in Baltimore.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
4. Depend on complacency
Another scholar delivered a warning of a possible future. Vickie Sullivan , a political science scholar at Tufts University, studies Renaissance writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who lived from 1469 to 1527.
He is perhaps most widely known for encouraging“sole rulers – his phrase for authoritarians or dictators – ... to use force and fraud to gain and maintain power,” she wrote. But Machiavelli had advice for the public, too, Sullivan explained:
Read more:
500 years ago, Machiavelli warned the public not to get complacent in the face of self-interested charismatic figures
This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation's archives.
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