Masks Of Authoritarianism

​This edited book investigates how life is affected by the increasingly authoritarian regime in Bangladesh.Earlier a flawed but real electoral democracy, over the last several years Bangladesh has been characterised as a ‘hybrid regime’ in The Economist’s Democracy Index. Today it is a country in which law still rules and leaders are still chosen – but only on paper. The uniqueness of this book is not in defining regime type or investigating trajectories. It is in its efforts to study how these changes affect everyday life. All chapters are based on intimate knowledge of a field, on first-hand experience, and on interviews and ethnography. This book will interest political scientists and scholars of Bangladesh, the Islamic world and beyond, with findings of broad relevance to hybrid regimes.

One of “the most comprehensive, erudite, and timely” explorations of power dynamics and authoritarianism in religions, institutions, relationships and even personal struggles (San Francisco Chronicle Book Review) Authoritarian control, which once held societies together, is now at the core of personal, social, and planetary problems, and thus a key factor in social disintegration. Authoritarianism is embedded in the way people think—hiding in culture, values, daily life, and in the very morality people try to live by. In The Guru Papers, authors Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad unmask authoritarianism in areas such as relationships, cults, 12-step groups, religion, and contemporary morality. Chapters on addiction and love show the insidious nature of authoritarian values and ideologies in the most intimate corners of life, offering new frameworks for understanding why people get addicted and why intimacy is laden with conflict. By exposing the inner authoritarian that people use to control themselves and others, the authors show why people give up their power, and how others get and maintain it.

​This edited book investigates how life is affected by the increasingly authoritarian regime in Bangladesh.Earlier a flawed but real electoral democracy, over the last several years Bangladesh has been characterised as a ‘hybrid regime’ in The Economist’s Democracy Index. Today it is a country in which law still rules and leaders are still chosen – but only on paper. The uniqueness of this book is not in defining regime type or investigating trajectories. It is in its efforts to study how these changes affect everyday life. All chapters are based on intimate knowledge of a field, on first-hand experience, and on interviews and ethnography. This book will interest political scientists and scholars of Bangladesh, the Islamic world and beyond, with findings of broad relevance to hybrid regimes.

During the 1990s, international democracy promotion efforts led to the establishment of numerous regimes that cannot be easily classified as either authoritarian or democratic. They display characteristics of each, in short they are semi-authoritarian regimes. These regimes pose a considerable challenge to U.S. policymakers because the superficial stability of many semi-authoritarian regimes usually masks severe problems that need to be solved lest they lead to a future crisis. Additionally, these regimes call into question some of the ideas about democratic transitions that underpin the democracy promotion strategies of the United States and other Western countries. Despite their growing importance, semi-authoritarian regimes have not received systematic attention. Marina Ottaway examines five countries (Egypt, Azerbaijan, Venezuela, Croatia, and Senegal) which highlight the distinctive features of semi-authoritarianism and the special challenge each poses to policymakers. She explains why the dominant approach to democracy promotion isn't effective in these countries and concludes by suggesting alternative policies. Marina Ottaway is senior associate and codirector of the Democracy and Rule of Law Project at the Carnegie Endowment.

This Research Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the latest knowledge on authoritarian regimes. Combining quantitative research and in-depth case studies, it not only provides novel insight into past and current dictatorships, but also forecasts potential new developments in authoritarian politics.

From the Arab Spring to the Spanish Indignados, from Occupy Wall Street in New York to Nuit Debout in Paris, contemporary protest bears the mark of citizenism, a libertarian and participatory brand of populism which appeals to ordinary citizens outraged at the arrogance of political and financial elites in the wake of the Great Recession. This book draws on 140 interviews with activists and participants in occupations and demonstrations to explore the new politics nurtured by the 'movement of the squares' of 2011-16 and its reflection of an exceptional phase of crisis and social transformation. Gerbaudo demonstrates how, in waging a unifying struggle against a perceived Oligarchy, today's movements combine the neo-anarchist ethos of horizontality and leaderlessness inherited from the anti-globalisation movement, and a resurgent populist demand for full popular sovereignty and the reclamation of citizenship rights. He analyses the manifestation of this ideology through the signature tactics of these upheavals, including protest camps in public squares, popular assemblies and social media activism. And he charts its political ramifications from Podemos in Spain to Bernie Sanders in the US, revealing how the central square occupations have been foundational to current movements for radical democracy worldwide.

Chris Ogden argues that, as the world capitulates to China’s preferred authoritarian order, other world powers are moving to this as a dominant global phenomenon, which will transform global institutions, human rights and political systems.

"Brilliant important strongly recommended reads at times like a 'Tom Robbins of physics'." - Jacquelyn Small, author of Awakening in Time, and Becoming a Practical Mystic "With this book, Thomas Brophy establishes his credentials as a paradigmatist, that rarest of thinkers, whose models of reality not only enhance human understanding of their world, but give form to new historical movements. By integrating several cutting edge paradigms, and by highlighting the role of spirit in the universe, The Mechanism Demands a Mysticism is sure to inform, instruct, entertain, and even inspire its readers." -Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., former president of the American Psychological Association's Division of Humanistic Psychology; author of Dream Telepathy. "Integrating the words of many holy people with scientific theories and a study of phenomena, Brophy indicates the limitations of scientific and religious dogmas this kind of integration will become more and more necessary in the next century." -Hiroshi Motoyama, Ph.D., Litt. D., author of Karma and Reincarnation; Head Priest of Tamamitsu Shinto Shrine, Tokyo. "Well, 'just a few pages' has turned into reading the whole thing. Eminently readable and highly entertaining or infotaining. A good book! Never thought of juxtaposing Newton and Basho myself." -Yasuhiko Kimura, CEO of the University of Science & Philosophy and Director of the Twilight Club/Center for Evolutionary Ethics, former Zen priest. "Your ideas are profound. The Mechanism Demands a Mysticism deserves a broader exposure." - Jeffrey Mishlove, Ph.D., host of Thinking Allowed, and "Virtual U" Wisdom Radio. "You are opening the eyes of scientists all over. Bravo!" -Judith Orloff, M.D. Board Certified Psychiatrist, author of Second Sight.