(Re)Thinking Authoritarianism in Democracy

Abstract

This chapter examines the expressions of authoritarianism that can occur in non-authoritarian regimes, whereby the most extreme examples are arbitrary killings carried out by public officials. I seek to provoke critical reflections on the need to observe, analyse, and denounce the authoritarianism that persists in democratic countries and which infringes on people's most fundamental rights, such as the right to life or the right to live free from torture. The goal is to offer a means of accounting both for different forms of authoritarianism and for public response strategies in the form public denunciations.