How Mediocre Workers Support Authoritarian Regimes

Recent research highlights how leaders convince and recruit ground-level workers to support their demands. Even the most capable autocrats need assistance from lower- and midlevel people to consolidate and maintain power. However, until recently, researchers have largely ignored how these leaders persuade workers beyond ideological extremism or fear of persecution.

In Russia, Vladimir V. Putin relies on a network of oligarchs, while in Iran, the Revolutionary Guards and allied business figures bolster the regime’s strength. Viktor Orban transformed Hungary into an ‘elected autocracy’ with crucial judges, political enforcers, and friendly tycoons. These leaders need military officers, secret police, and bureaucrats to enforce their plans. New insights, derived from a unique data set from Argentina’s Dirty War in the 1970s and ’80s, offer a different explanation.

The study reveals that career pressures like stalled careers or minor promotions can prompt officials to act against professional obligations, core norms, and even basic morality. These individuals are not extremists or victims, but often middle-level workers seeking advancement.

In their book, “Making a Career in Dictatorship,” German political scientists Adam Scharpf and Christian Glassel explore Argentina’s military during its era of coups and disappearances. They found ‘career-pressured’ individuals occupied secret police roles, bypassing regular military hierarchy. This offered them promotions and career success otherwise unattainable. Authoritarians do not need fanatic believers or extreme allurements for successful power retention. Understanding how to target the frustrated and mediocre suffices.