Autocrats either take advantage of extant political polarization, exacerbate political divides themselves, or employ a mixture of both strategies to rise to power within democracies.

How Autocrats Utilize and Exacerbate Polarization

Autocrats exacerbate long-existing social divides (such as racial or ethnic divides, political divides, etc.) to destabilize a country’s political system and garner popular support.

How Autocrats Utilize and Exacerbate Social Divides

In the context of a polarized electorate divided by ideological issues and social divisions, autocrats often employ populistic rhetoric in their campaigns to achieve broad public support. This populism is typically divisive and seeks to pit an autocrat’s supporters against supporters of democracy.

How Autocrats Utilize Populism to Their Advantage

Would-be autocrats take advantage of disillusioned voters to win elections. They often polarize electorates/take advantage of extant polarization, exacerbate social divides, and engage in populist campaigning to build a base of support that will enable and maintain their rise to power.

Wesleyan University

Would-be autocrats competing in democratic elections can employ a variety of strategies to convince voters to elect them. Autocrats have recently benefitted from a growing dissatisfaction with democracy among voters and have also manipulated social divides among their electorates to garner support.

How Autocrats Win Elections in Democracies

Autocrats have benefitted from a rising perception among citizens of democracies that democracies struggle to govern, particularly on addressing long-term issues and immediate crises. Autocrats have capitalized off of this frustration to convince voters to elect non-democratic candidates.

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