"GLOBAL ISSUES, LEADERSHIP CHOICES":

When students play my "Mission Possible: Global Issues, Leadership Choices" simulation, they automatically seem to assume they are leaders of a democracy. But democracy, on decline around the world for most of the last decade, is proving an unexpectedly fragile thing. The new Authoritarian Warning Survey takes as its basic premise that it is the erosion of democratic norms, rather than dramatic events like coups, that has been the biggest contributor to the rise of authoritarianism and the decline of democracy. What are the harbingers of authoritarianism that political scientists believe supporters of democracy need to be watchful for? There are six:

1. Treatment of the media;
2. Lack of respect for the judiciary, legislature, and rule of law and lack of effective constraints on executive power;
3. Lack of respect for free and fair elections and the legitimacy of the opposition;
4. Lack of respect for core civil liberties such as freedom of speech, assembly, religion and privacy;
5. Use of violence, intimidation or paramilitary organizations for political ends;
6. Leaders' use of rhetoric indicating weak attachment to democratic norms.

One of the things that makes the Authoritarian Warning Survey novel, though, is that instead of focusing on countries like Hungary, Venezuela, Myanmar, or Turkey, the survey turns its watchful eye on the U.S. specifically.  www.authwarningsurvey.com/