Defining authoritarianism: Legacies from the Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe

How does democracy become authoritarianism? How do societies that value freedom gradually – and some, rather instantly – accept surveillance, repression, exclusion, or war as normal modus operandi? And why do authoritarian tendencies repeatedly return, even in societies convinced that they have learned the lessons of history? This forum examines authoritarianism through historical and contemporary lenses, drawing lessons from European fascism, Russian imperial ambitions, Central East European pseudo-democratic authoritarian regimes, and the Soviet Union’s colonial practices of debilitation and domination. The essays in the forum illustrate how authoritarian power operates not only through force but through communication, memory, identity, and practices of everyday life. Altogether they offer a powerful warning to democracies worldwide – you too can be next.