How Countries Maintain Authoritarian Rule?

How Countries Maintain Authoritarian Rule?
Your Name
Subject and Section
Date
Introduction
In an authoritarian country, the system of polices employed by the government are greatly focused on control and order, where these countries favor the dominant command of the authority rather than the citizens freedom (Vasquez, 2016). Additionally, an authoritarian form of government, in most case, are headed by either a single person that possesses absolute sovereign over the country, or headed by a group of people or a coalition where power is equally distributed among its members including the institutions involved (Vasquez, 2016). Many countries were observed to exhibit authoritarian forms of government or closely similar to autocratic regimes; however, authoritarianism is usually hated by the citizens of the country as most leaders abuse their powers and repress the rights of their people (Vasquez, 2016). This is the main downside of authoritarianism as people tend to revolt against their government and destabilize the seat of power to change their country, so, how does these countries maintain authoritarian control? One of these countries is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or North Korea. North Korea is a common example of a country that has an existing authoritarian regime in its government where the country's autocratic control is regarded as the longest surviving regime after World War 2 (Song & Wrigth, 2018). Although different authoritarian countries employ different kinds of strategies to strengthen their control over the people, the North Korean strategies to maintain their authoritarian regime should be further studied due to their long-lasting autocratic regime.
According to the study made by Byman and Lind (2010) titled, "Pyongyang's Survival Strategy: Tools of Authoritarian Control in North Korea," the authors outlined the following strategies: restrictive social policies; manipulation of idea and information; use of force; co-optation; manipulation of foreign governments; and institutional coup-proofing, as important tools for the North Korean autocratic government to stay in power. On the other hand, the study by McEachern (2018) titled, "Comparative authoritarian institutionalism, regime evolution, and stability," the authors analyzed the one-political structure, personalist element, and hereditary succession as the most important factors in stabilizing an authoritarian regime. In this paper, the similarities and differences of the two articles concerning the important factors that maintains authoritarian rule will be analyzed. Additionally, this paper will weigh the theoretical argument, methodological approach, and findings to know which of the two article has the most convincing explanation on how authoritarian countries maintain their rule.
Similarities of Theoretical Arguments
The similarities in both articles include the prevention of the uprising of the people or coup d’état by controlling the elite and by manipulating information that is available to the masses. In controlling the elite, the article of McEacheran (2018), stated that authoritarian regimes are abolished by revolution of the elite and the masses. These are the main challengers towards Authoritarian leaders, so there is a need to neutralize these threats. However, in North Korea, the leaders focused their resources into controlling the elite rather than the masses, since only the elite can gather the masses and the masses can easily break without a withstanding leader (McEacheran, 2018).
In the article of Byman and Lind (2010), they described the importance of controlling the elite, especially the selectorate and the military, in maintaining the authoritarian regime where strategies of co-optation and coup-proofing are employed. Co-optation is important in stabilization of a country's political structure. The elite can organize oppositions that usually results to violence and more hatred towards the government. The authoritarian leader would usually reward the elite with both political and economic power such as new houses, luxurious goods and more funding of their preferred projects in the area. Additionally, the political power includes their assured voice in the decision making of government policies (Byman and Lind, 2010). Preventing the military to retaliate is another reason on why North Korea needs to get the elite on their side. North Korean leaders know the power of the military, especially in the historical perspective other authoritarian countries where the military is disloyal to the dictator. Other than giving rewards to the military, the dictator often demonstrates the extent of their power over the military by giving them extreme punishment to whomever betrayed the authoritarian rule (Byman and Lind, 2010).
On the other hand, in the study of McEacheran (2018), North Korean leaders addressed the problems regarding the elites through the use of the one-party system. The party members are composed of the elite where incentives were given to those who will cooperate with the party. After the dictator gained the trust of the elite, the party conducts outreach programs to supply food rations and other basic needs to get their dependence to the single political party and the authoritarian government (McEacheran, 2018).
In manipulating information available for the masses, the study of Byman and Lind (2010), stated that authoritarian regimes should appeal to the masses by planting ideas and control the circulation of information among the people to justify the authority of the dictator. According to the Max Weber, "power needs to justify itself" (as cited in Byman & Lind, 2010). This means that regimes need to provide the masses a powerful ideology and make the people understand that the rule of the dictator is needed. If successful, the dictator can gain a charismatic cult-like following from the citizens, which inhibits the formation of any possible opposition (Byman & Lind, 2010).
Byman & Lind (2010) also reported in their study that during the rule of Kim Il-sung that he exploited the used of foreign policy to take over the selectorate as the allied foreign government with North Korea were used to finance the regime (Byman & Lind, 2010). The financial support is used to also fund the incentives that the selectorate are having (Byman & Lind, 2010). Additionally, Kim Il-sung took advantage the threats that other countries pose against authoritarian regimes where he used a propaganda to stir information against other countries to create great suspicion to further strengthen the grip of the regime’s ideology.
On the other hand, McEacheran (2018), emphasize the information manipulation in the hereditary succession of North Korean leaders which strengthen the powers of the dictator over the country. North Korea’s transfer of power from one leader to another based on the forecast of the government rather than the actual result which created a monarchical-like type of succession (McEacheran, 2018). It was observed that North Korea already had succession twice since the formation of the Kim dynasty. North Korea is not monarchical but they lead the people to believe that they are the only family that can maintain the North Korean dreams and ideology (McEacheran, 2018).
Differences of Theoretical Argument
The difference in the articles includes the dictator of North Korea during the time of writing where Bymand and Lind (2010) described the authoritarian rule of Kim Il-sung while McEacheran (2018) described the authoritarian rule of Kim Jong Un. The difference between the two ruler...