Particularly in the COVID-19 pandemic, autocratic leaders have used emergencies as excuses to concentrate their power and violate human rights. For instance, the Hungarian legislature empowered Prime Minister Orbán to rule by decree throughout an indefinite state of emergency. Throughout the pandemic, he punished journalists for reporting on the pandemic and even empowered the military to use deadly force against civilians who did not follow pandemic protocols.

Wesleyan University

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

Scheppele, K. L. & Pozen, D. (2020). Executive Overreach and Underreach in the Pandemic. In M. P. Maduro & P. W. Kahn (Eds.), Democracy in Times of Pandemic: Different Futures Imagined. (pp. 38-53). New York: Cambridge University Press. 

Scheppele and Pozen (2020)

Utilizing Emergencies as Excuses to Violate Human Rights

Autocrats can attack the voting rights of citizens—particularly those citizens who may support their opponents—to consolidate power. A primary example of this phenomenon is Republican-led state legislatures in the United States passing restrictive legislation meant to prevent Black and low-income people from having voting access.

Attacking Voting Rights

Autocrats attack the free press to eliminate or at least weaken the media as a check on executive power. They might attack journalists, stack media regulatory committees with party loyalists, censor journalists, or buy up media outlets to consolidate control over the press.

Attacking the Press and Consolidating Media Power

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are key to engaging the public in political activity and can threaten autocrats if they mobilize the opposition against them. Consequently, autocrats can attack CSOs by restricting those that receive foreign funding and hindering CSOs with fines and sanctions.

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