Statecraft How to Build an Authoritarian Regime
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Sep 10, 2026 Julian Waller, a political scientist at George Washington University and Russia analyst, explores how authoritarian regimes are built and sustained. He compares military juntas, party states, theocracies, monarchies, and personalist dictatorships. The discussion examines Wagner’s challenge to the Kremlin, elite management, coup-proofing, negotiated transitions in Venezuela, and whether America’s institutions can resist autocracy.
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Parties Give Autocracies Organizational Staying Power
- Parties stabilize authoritarian rule by organizing power, rewarding careers, disciplining members, and reducing elite defections.
- Communist party states go further by placing parallel party structures over every state institution.
Iran Combines Theocracy With Elected Institutions
- Iran combines clerical rule with elected institutions, councils, parliament, and civilian government.
- During wartime, the IRGC appeared increasingly dominant while theater commanders gained surprising autonomy.
North Korea Preserves A Party State Shell
- North Korea retains the structure of a party state but functions as a personalist dictatorship.
- Hereditary succession adds a monarchic feature, paralleling dynastic patterns in Syria and Azerbaijan.
