Abstract

LESGART, Cecilia. Authoritarianism. History and problems of a fundamental contemporary concept. Perf. latinoam. [online]. 2020, vol.28, n.55, pp.349-371.  Epub July 02, 2020. ISSN 0188-7653.  https://doi.org/10.18504/pl2855-014-2020.

Since it was used by Juan Linz to characterize the franquismo political experience, authoritarianism has become a specialized and fundamental concept of comparative politics. Later used in Latin America to name different oppressive political experiences, the term has not ceased to build a conceptual history linked to various political regimes arising (or not) from coups of state and/or military dictatorships. Currently, it reappears with other conceptual variations that jump between territorial scales: electoral, subnational, global authoritarianism. All these new adjectives and uses show the course of a contemporary key concept. This article wants to reconstruct a history of its innovations and persistent problems.

Keywords : Comparative politics; political change and conceptual innovation; authoritarianism; bureaucratic authoritarianism; electoral authoritarianism; subnational authoritarianism; global authoritarianism.

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