Authoritarian Learning and Authoritarian Resilience: Regime Responses to the ‘Arab Awakening’

EU Democracy Promotion and the Arab Spring

“…Authoritarian learning might indeed present the 'dark side' of diffusion witnessed in the Arab Spring (Heydemann and Leenders 2011). The EU's enthusiasm for advancing overall cooperation with Morocco to the same extent as with the new Tunisian regime, and its lenience vis-à-vis the new leadership in Egypt, bear striking resemblance to its previous 'complacency towards authoritarian regimes'.…”

“…In the end, only few countries experienced a transition, but the overthrow of even a few longtime rulers demonstrated that regime survival was more fragile than assumed, even in seemingly stable countries such as Tunisia. Protests were obviously 'contagious' (Heydemann and Leenders 2011;Mekouar 2014) and the Arab Spring represented an exceptional moment of popular contestation, challenging the authority and survival of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. However, the overthrow of Presidents Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak did not trigger a domino effect and the majority of rulers remained in power, using a mix of repression, economic, and political concessions to contain protests in their countries.…”

“…The EU may adapt its overall approach to promoting democracy and human rights, changing the institutional framework for, and potentially increasing its insistence on, cooperation. In turn, building upon the notion of 'authoritarian learning' (Heydemann and Leenders 2011), the upheaval might prompt its Southern neighbours to adapt their politics of survival, including their strategy in dealing with external democracy promotion efforts. If cooperation was indeed part of survival strategies that made authoritarian regimes more resilient to contestation during the Arab Spring, incumbent rulers might seek to emulate more successful models by adopting political reforms and by more willingly accommodating the EU's demand for cooperation, without necessarily advancing the state of political liberalization or democratization.…”

Censors Get Smart: Evidence from Psiphon in Iran

“…Gunitsky () notes the diffusion of best practices in information controls among autocratic regimes. The adaptation of state capabilities and tactics to control online information reflects a form of authoritarian learning (Heydemann & Leenders, , p. 649).…”

Estructura de poder y desafíos populares. La respuesta del régimen marroquí al Movimiento 20 de Febrero

“…Viejos temas han sido retomados para ser analizados a la luz de los nuevos datos al alcance (véase, por ejemplo, la revisión de temas clásicos por Stepan y Linz, 2013: la relación entre democracia y religión, la naturaleza de los regímenes «híbridos» o el «sultanismo»). Los autores más alineados con una u otras perspectivas han propuesto modificaciones tras preguntarse en qué ha fallado el análisis (Heydemann y Leenders, 2011;Aarts y Cavatorta, 2012). En un esfuerzo de autocrítica se han identificado puntos débiles (un excesivo énfasis en el Estado, en los actores políticos y sociales más formales, en la estabilidad de las instituciones o en la apatía de la población), mientras que se propugnan nuevas agendas de investigación (formas más horizontales de movilización, los efectos sobre la población de las políticas neoliberales, los cambios demográficos, las nuevas redes sociales o las relaciones entre los sectores civiles y militares) 4 .…”