The Road to Repression

Abstract Are economic and political liberalism compatible? Most dictatorships today have embraced the free market. They have relinquished their control over the economy in favor of private competition. Democratic observers celebrated these changes; they hoped the new economic freedoms would help autocracies transition into more open political regimes. But they have not. Instead, many of these free-market dictatorships have become more repressive than before. This book shows that economic liberalization is a double-edged sword. It can empower regime outsiders to demand political inclusion, but in doing so, it makes the ruling political class uneasy. They fear economic reform will bring down the system that keeps them in power. To combat this threat, they mobilize the state against the opposition. The result is a less tolerant regime that quickly represses the opposition it would have otherwise tolerated. Economic freedom has expanded, but it has come at the cost of more abusive regimes. Economic liberalism not only often fails to bring about political change, but it can also actively undermine it.