Week 3 blog post Authoritarian governments

The struggle for the idea of “the balance of power” throughout Latin America has hindered countries abilities to form stable social, economic, and political sectors.  The motion that drives Authoritarianism is essentially the struggle for power.  David Collier explains in Chapter one of The Bureaucratic-Authoritarian Model that in Latin America the “populists” are the ones who dictate the flow of political action in democratic states.  The working and lower classes are far greater in numbers than those of the middle and high classes.  Collier explains that repressive authoritarian governments in countries in which the low class dominates its population do anything possible to eliminate the populist power in the national political arena.  Authoritarian governments’ reasoning behind eliminating the populist is to focus more on modernization and advanced industrialization.  As a result of the development, the balance of power changes because the people no longer have much power in the political arena.  This leads to an increase in inequality throughout a state.

Argentine political scientist Guillermo O’Donnell goes into analyzing different types of political systems to further prove his argument about why authoritative regimes take over the populist.  O’Donnell focuses his argument on three political dimensions that he says are crucial in defining a free or authoritarian state.  The first one he talks about regarding political regime is important because he argues that electoral competition is a key factor in determining the amount of freedom a political regime has.   The second one regarding the class system that makes up the political coalition is a key factor in determining how stable the infrastructure is.  The third one regarding public policy is an important factor because policies that are agreed upon in a democratic setting are more likely to please everyone rather than policies made by authoritarian regimes.  O’Donnell makes it apparent that these three dimensions are are affected by whether or not the system of government in place is “incorporating” or excluding” the populist.  His three examples of governmental systems: Oligarchic, Populist, and Bureaucratic-Authoritarian are examples of whether or not the government incorporates or excludes its citizens from participating in the government.  Without reading the subheading of these three governmental systems it is easy to assume that the Oligarchic system and the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian system exclude its citizens from participating in the government.  It is assumed that the populist system includes its citizens and in particular to the demands of the lower class.  According to O’Donnell however, he explains that an Oligarchic system is neither incorporating or excluding because the popular sector has no distinct political agenda.