Non-State Advocacy for Southeast Asia’s Autocratic States

• In Event: Opposition Strategies and Authoritarian Resilience in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Autocratic regimes have developed a new array of tools to defend their behaviour and propagate their interests. In order to gain a shield from criticism and an improved public image, they have increasingly employed non-state, nominally independent actors as advocates of their declared benevolence. Despite growing awareness of this innovation, questions remain about its nature, scope and consequences. Using Southeast Asia as a region of comparative analysis, this article offers a theory of “autocratic advocacy” and its extraterritorial practice by digital troll armies, fake election observation groups, public policy institutes, public relations firms, think tanks and government-organised non-government organisations. The theory is tested with original data on the range of tools employed – to varying degrees – by dictators and dominant parties across the region between 1974 to 2016. The findings have implications for established research on the persistence of autocratic regimes, along with emerging research on the internationalisation of autocratic rule.

Author

• Lee Morgenbesser, Griffith University