Controlling the legislature is necessary for autocrats to pass laws to their benefit. The most straightforward way to control the legislature is through winning an outright majority in legislative elections, though autocratic parties can form coalitions with other parties as well.

Controlling the Legislature

By controlling the legislature, autocrats can control who is appointed to courts and ensure that the judiciary is stacked with partisan loyalists. Courts can then rule in favor of autocrats, approving their attacks on civil liberties and expansions of power. 

Compromising the Independence of the Judiciary

With the backing of a complicit legislature, autocrats can control who is appointed to executive agencies that engage in government oversight, such as agencies targeting government corruption. Without these agencies acting as independent political bodies, corruption can flourish uninhibited. 

Controlling Other Constraints on Executive Power

Autocrats seek to reduce checks on their power to consolidate power for themselves. To do so, they control the legislature, judiciary, and other institutions that typically check executive power. 

Wesleyan University

Autocrats primarily degrade democracy across three categories: by compromising the rule of law, attacking civil liberties, and violating the freeness and fairness of their countries’ elections. Autocrats can also violate democratic norms to change the culture of a country from a more democratic political culture to a more autocratic one. 

How Autocrats Degrade Democracy in Power

Haggard, S. & Kaufman, R. R. (2021). Backsliding: Democratic Regress in the Contemporary World. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Haggard & Kaufman (2021)

Attacking the Rule of Law and Reducing Checks on Executive Power

Autocrats attack civil liberties to limit the ability of citizens to challenge their rule. They might attack press freedoms or consolidate media power, diminish voting rights, or attack civil society organizations (CSOs). Autocrats can also utilize emergencies as excuses for violating human rights and consolidating their power.

Attacking Civil Liberties

Autocrats manipulate voting laws and the way that elections are run so that they can more easily beat their opponents and continue to rule.

Attacking Free and Fair Elections

Autocrats can take a variety of routes to destabilize a country’s democracy and consolidate power. Tactics can be more overt—such as by amending or even replacing a country’s constitution to their benefit—or they can be more subtle—such as by shifting a country’s political culture in their favor.

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