Imlisanen Jamir
Strongmen politics is both contagious and increasingly back in fashion.
It might once have been tempting to attribute the strongmen phenomenon to local conditions, history or national cultures. But that does not explain its vigour in today's connected world.
These leaders have won followers by targeting the “them.” And they have succeeded because they know something about “us,” or the people they’re speaking to. They understand the sense of threat–and they’re willing to exploit it.
About a decade ago, it appeared that a revolution in information and communication technologies would empower individuals at the expense of the state. It was believed that social networks would create “people power,” enabling political revolutions and people’s movements. But the world’s autocrats drew a different lesson. They saw an opportunity for government to try to become the dominant player in how information is shared and how the state can use data to tighten political control.
Strongmen do not face choices about whether to take to extremes to protect their vote share or stand on principle in response to populist pressure. They’re usually the ones exerting that pressure, and their systems allow them to protect their advantages by changing the rules of the political game as needed. And nothing has made it easier for them to do so than advances in technology.
Perhaps the most worrying element of the strongmen’s rise is the message it sends. The systems of humanist, pluralist democracies now look much less appealing than they did a generation ago. This is leading to an erosion of the checks and balances that prevent even the most determined leaders from taking shortcuts to greater “security” and national pride.
The strongmen playbook is now well-established. Its key features include a willingness to bend or break the law; to fire public servants if they fail to demonstrate loyalty; and to delight supporters with “politically incorrect” comments. The strongmen justify their contempt for liberal niceties by claiming that they represent the people against a corrupt and out-of-touch political class.
Political parties, governments, and the media use fear to gain support for policy initiatives. Ratings-obsessed mainstream/corporate media routinely covers the rare instead of the everyday, and isolated events are magnified into full-blown social catastrophes. Exceptions to the rule become the rule itself. People believe that gloom and doom are always just around the corner.
In this new world order, migrants, minorities, and disadvantaged groups are regularly scapegoated by powerful media and emboldened authoritarians. As a result, the double standards set by the media and politicians contribute to fuelling a toxic discourse around identity[13], implying that the alienated ‘other’ will take over.
On the other hand, politics of fear and the unjustifiable ‘fear of the other’ remain to be relevant as xenophobic images, nationalist signifiers and racist fantasies generated by strongmen trigger generalized anxieties.
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