Adaptable Authoritarian Regimes: Scrutinising Al Sisi's Dictatorial Comeback in the Light of the Authoritarian Resilience Debate

Authoritarian resilience, a concept mostly debated within the context of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region), describes the durability and strengths of authoritarian regimes in resisting the pressure of democratisation. Both authoritarian consolidation, referring to the employment of authoritarian tactics by a regime to increase its stability, as well as the related sub-concept of authoritarian adaptation, meaning learning processes of a regime and respective adjustment of these authoritarian tactics in the wake of challenges to a regime, are crucial to the understanding of the debate on authoritarian resilience. Drawing on scholarship on this debate, most notably the theoretical conceptualisations by Göbel, who classified the tactics for authoritarian regime survival into despotic, infrastructural, and discursive powers, I develop a theoretical framework for regime consolidation in the wake of popular discontent and protest. Applying the framework to the case study of...Show moreAuthoritarian resilience, a concept mostly debated within the context of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region), describes the durability and strengths of authoritarian regimes in resisting the pressure of democratisation. Both authoritarian consolidation, referring to the employment of authoritarian tactics by a regime to increase its stability, as well as the related sub-concept of authoritarian adaptation, meaning learning processes of a regime and respective adjustment of these authoritarian tactics in the wake of challenges to a regime, are crucial to the understanding of the debate on authoritarian resilience. Drawing on scholarship on this debate, most notably the theoretical conceptualisations by Göbel, who classified the tactics for authoritarian regime survival into despotic, infrastructural, and discursive powers, I develop a theoretical framework for regime consolidation in the wake of popular discontent and protest. Applying the framework to the case study of the authoritarian Al-Sisi regime in Egypt shows how the regime adapted its tactics to consolidate in the light of the challenges of popular discontent and protest and ultimately survived. This underscores the significance of the concept of authoritarian consolidation to authoritarian resilience. Furthermore, it substantiates how the skilful and well-integrated application of authoritarian adaptation contributes to authoritarian stability. Therefore, such an analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of authoritarian regime dynamics and the concept of authoritarian resilience.Show less

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Adaptable Authoritarian Regimes: Scrutinising Al Sisi's Dictatorial Comeback in the Light of the Authoritarian Resilience Debate