The New Authoritarianism: Volume 3 - A risk analysis of the corporate/radical-right axis

While it is important to understand corporate and political authoritarianism in current terms, it is important to look at different periods in its history and the wider impact it has had, both at the time it began and in more recent decades.

Alan Waring is a risk analyst and author, who, over the last 35 years, has provided consultancy to government departments, institutions and large corporations. His series titled, 'The New Authoritarianism' has led him to assemble a third volume, within which a number of global experts give voice to their concerns about relationships between the worlds of business, media and politics, from which the radical-right phenomenon draws support and funding.

Considering the 'radical-right' as 'a spectrum or continuum of harmfulness', Waring's contributors examine one of the major challenges to democracy and address two key questions: 'What happens when democracies pass the threshold at which their democratic processes—most critically, media freedom, rule of law, free and fair elections—come under serious threat? As they move rightwards along the political spectrum, at what point do they effectively become authoritarian regimes?'

One example of corporate authoritarianism across different periods in history is the US motoring and road lobby, that in an overt sense, fought to dismantle the streetcar systems (more commonly known as trams in Europe), once a ubiquitous sight in many towns and cities. Many of their railway lines made way for the growth of mass motoring both during and just after the war, alongside the building of the US interstate highway system. The dismantling of the remaining streetcar networks made Americans almost entirely reliant on cars and for much longer distances, on domestic air travel.

This pattern became entrenched over several decades and remains so even today, while the UK's transport counterpart similarly aided and abetted the demise of trams in many UK towns and cities, with the decimation of bus and rail links across the country, both before and after the Second World War.  The result has been a steer towards a particular mode of transport.

Another historical example of corporate authoritarianism is the relationship between the media corporations, their proprietors and government: the most famous being Rupert Murdoch and his media empire. In the US and UK context, reports of bullying and associated behaviours have suggested this is a tactic to get politicians to tow a particular line, that plays on fears of retaliation.

One of the salient points which come out of this review are how democracy's strength is also its own worst enemy (p.102). This is important because if perpetuation of inequalities is one of its flaws, it has serious implications for people's faith in democracy and its processes.

It prepares a breeding ground for populists and demagogues to exploit people's frustrations for short-term political gain, such as the Brexit vote in the UK and Trump's presidential victory in the US. The author's quote of de Tocqueville's argument about 'the tyranny of the majority' illustrates that democracy, as well as needing to be dynamic, also needs strong minimum standards covering everybody, along with robust safeguards in place.

Another salient point which emerged from the book's focus on the rise of right-wing populism, was the inclusion of the populist triangle featuring technocratic, economic and cultural dimensions. The key drivers which give rise to populism can include political and economic insecurity, i.e. not only struggling financially, but also the feeling that people have no political representation, leaving populists free to exploit this political vacuum for their own ends.

However, both left and right-wing populism have a very significant difference. Right-wing populism plays to people's emotions, whereas left wing populism plays more to people's intellect. The dangers of both are evident on the world stage, and according to Waring's analysis, the radical right is also cloaked in the wings of corporate entities.

The New Authoritarianism: Volume 3 - A Risk Analysis of the Corporate/Radical-Right Axis, Edited by Alan Waring, publisher: ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2021

Article from the Political Psychology Section Autumn 2022 Bulletin