4 ms·

What country isnt descending into authoritarianism these days?

by yfw 1y ago

onlyrealcuzzo 1y ago
Most of Europe, Central and South America, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, South Korea - the majority of the world that could not already be described as authoritarian
- JuniperMesos 1y ago
  People describe all of these countries as authoritarian for various reasons. Multiple Indian immigrants I have worked with in the US have expressed displeasure at authoritarianism in India today, which I find difficult to distinguish from just not liking Modi.
  - crop_rotation 1y ago
    I mean authoritarianism in India is far worse than what Trump can do at his worst, so their displeasure is not unwarranted.
    - rammer 1y ago
      Absolute bollocks, do you actually know anything about India and what's happening in the last 10 years. Easy being a keyboard warrior when you don't have to provide any justification.
      - crop_rotation 1y ago
        What part is bollocks? Please enlighten me on what radical transformation has happened in the last 10 years to make India less authoritarian, I can only see it increasing in the last 10 years. And yes I am very aware of what is happening, having seen the ground reality in tons of different places both urban and rural.
  - decremental 1y ago
    [dead]
  - timr 1y ago
    Few people actually know what "authoritarian" means, and are mostly just repeating things they've heard and intend to mean as "leaders doing things I don't personally like." A strict definition of "authoritarian" [1] doesn't fit the current US administration at all in many ways, since they've focused their attention on tearing down government, not building it up. In some ways they demand stricter enforcement of (pre-existing!) rules, but in many others they have acted to undermine government authority (e.g. with respect to environmental regulations). Generally the people who decry authoritarianism in the domain of immigration enforcement will turn around and decry loosening of regulations about things that they prefer to be regulated by the government. [1] "favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom." per Google's definition.
    - tenuousemphasis 1y ago
      They are filling every power vacuum they create with direct executive power. Pure authoritarianism.
      - timr 1y ago
        > They are filling every power vacuum they create with direct executive power. Pure authoritarianism. I just gave you a correct definition of authoritarianism, and that isn't it. It's also untrue -- this administration has rather aggressively moved to deregulate a number of areas that prior administrations had regulated. For example, not even a week ago, people here were complaining about the administration's move to deregulate PFAS: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45239803 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45239803 Say what you will about the wisdom of the change, they aren't replacing that power vacuum with direct executive power. This administration is not canonically left, nor right, and it certainly isn't "authoritarian" by any traditional definition.
        riedel 1y ago
        What does 'a correct' mean to you? Wikipedia says: > Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and the rule of law. As an outsider from Europe, it seems that is pretty much spot on to me. In Europe this probably applies to Hungary as well.
  - zem 1y ago
    a quick google search for "modi authoritarian" would have given you tons of hits talking about it, with documented incidents and policies to back them up. calling it "just not liking modi" does the people justifiably alarmed about what he is doing to the country a great disservice.
    - JuniperMesos 1y ago
      That's precisely my point - people will call any country doing something that they dislike "authoritarian". There's no way for me to verify that without spending a bunch of time learning about what specifically Modi is doing that previous Indian political leaders weren't, and evaluate that in the context of Indian politics in general. This is a difficult enough problem when it comes to evaluating what political pundits are saying around your own country and society, and I am well aware that I don't have more than a cursory, outsider's understanding of anything at all that is actually going on in India.
- kungito 1y ago
  eastern europe (EU) is absolute best
- XR0CSWV3h3kZWg 1y ago
  Including India in that list is pretty wild
- jmyeet 1y ago
  Europe is generally hurtling towards fascism. Some examples: - The UK government is busy outlawing free speech, protest and dissent. Because someone threw paint at a plane, you can now be jailed as a terrorist for saying "maybe we shouldn't drop bombs on babies in Gaza". The Labor government is an accident of the right-wing vote being split between the Conservatives and the even anti-migrant even-more-hard-right Reform party that absolutely won't be repeated in the next election; - France is teetering on the edge of fasicsm as the "centrist" president Macron openly courts the neo-Nazi National Front rather than deal with Melenchon despite his alliance getting the most votes in the last election. It's worth adding that National Front was founded by actual collaborators with the occupying Nazi party in Vichy France; - Germany has its own Islamophobic anti-immigrant neo-Nazi party that is hurtling towards attaining power: AfD; - Hungary is already an authoritarian right-wing state. And literally nobody is working to defuse this bomb by addressing the underlying causes: increasing wealth inequality and declining material conditions, even in otherwise relatively progressive countries like Ireland and Spain. So what you see and object to in the US is nothing more than Europe's future in 5-10 years if nothing changes.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

What country isnt descending into authoritarianism these days?

by yfw 1y ago

What country isnt descending into authoritarianism these days?

Most of Europe, Central and South America, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, South Korea - the majority of the world that could not already be described as authoritarian

JuniperMesos 1y ago
People describe all of these countries as authoritarian for various reasons. Multiple Indian immigrants I have worked with in the US have expressed displeasure at authoritarianism in India today, which I find difficult to distinguish from just not liking Modi.
- crop_rotation 1y ago
  I mean authoritarianism in India is far worse than what Trump can do at his worst, so their displeasure is not unwarranted.
  - rammer 1y ago
    Absolute bollocks, do you actually know anything about India and what's happening in the last 10 years. Easy being a keyboard warrior when you don't have to provide any justification.
    - crop_rotation 1y ago
      What part is bollocks? Please enlighten me on what radical transformation has happened in the last 10 years to make India less authoritarian, I can only see it increasing in the last 10 years. And yes I am very aware of what is happening, having seen the ground reality in tons of different places both urban and rural.
- decremental 1y ago
  [dead]
- timr 1y ago
  Few people actually know what "authoritarian" means, and are mostly just repeating things they've heard and intend to mean as "leaders doing things I don't personally like." A strict definition of "authoritarian" [1] doesn't fit the current US administration at all in many ways, since they've focused their attention on tearing down government, not building it up. In some ways they demand stricter enforcement of (pre-existing!) rules, but in many others they have acted to undermine government authority (e.g. with respect to environmental regulations). Generally the people who decry authoritarianism in the domain of immigration enforcement will turn around and decry loosening of regulations about things that they prefer to be regulated by the government. [1] "favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom." per Google's definition.
  - tenuousemphasis 1y ago
    They are filling every power vacuum they create with direct executive power. Pure authoritarianism.
    - timr 1y ago
      > They are filling every power vacuum they create with direct executive power. Pure authoritarianism. I just gave you a correct definition of authoritarianism, and that isn't it. It's also untrue -- this administration has rather aggressively moved to deregulate a number of areas that prior administrations had regulated. For example, not even a week ago, people here were complaining about the administration's move to deregulate PFAS: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45239803 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45239803 Say what you will about the wisdom of the change, they aren't replacing that power vacuum with direct executive power. This administration is not canonically left, nor right, and it certainly isn't "authoritarian" by any traditional definition.
      - riedel 1y ago
        What does 'a correct' mean to you? Wikipedia says: > Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and the rule of law. As an outsider from Europe, it seems that is pretty much spot on to me. In Europe this probably applies to Hungary as well.
- zem 1y ago
  a quick google search for "modi authoritarian" would have given you tons of hits talking about it, with documented incidents and policies to back them up. calling it "just not liking modi" does the people justifiably alarmed about what he is doing to the country a great disservice.
  - JuniperMesos 1y ago
    That's precisely my point - people will call any country doing something that they dislike "authoritarian". There's no way for me to verify that without spending a bunch of time learning about what specifically Modi is doing that previous Indian political leaders weren't, and evaluate that in the context of Indian politics in general. This is a difficult enough problem when it comes to evaluating what political pundits are saying around your own country and society, and I am well aware that I don't have more than a cursory, outsider's understanding of anything at all that is actually going on in India.
kungito 1y ago
eastern europe (EU) is absolute best
XR0CSWV3h3kZWg 1y ago
Including India in that list is pretty wild
jmyeet 1y ago
Europe is generally hurtling towards fascism. Some examples: - The UK government is busy outlawing free speech, protest and dissent. Because someone threw paint at a plane, you can now be jailed as a terrorist for saying "maybe we shouldn't drop bombs on babies in Gaza". The Labor government is an accident of the right-wing vote being split between the Conservatives and the even anti-migrant even-more-hard-right Reform party that absolutely won't be repeated in the next election; - France is teetering on the edge of fasicsm as the "centrist" president Macron openly courts the neo-Nazi National Front rather than deal with Melenchon despite his alliance getting the most votes in the last election. It's worth adding that National Front was founded by actual collaborators with the occupying Nazi party in Vichy France; - Germany has its own Islamophobic anti-immigrant neo-Nazi party that is hurtling towards attaining power: AfD; - Hungary is already an authoritarian right-wing state. And literally nobody is working to defuse this bomb by addressing the underlying causes: increasing wealth inequality and declining material conditions, even in otherwise relatively progressive countries like Ireland and Spain. So what you see and object to in the US is nothing more than Europe's future in 5-10 years if nothing changes.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]