“Competitive Authoritarianism” as a Nice Way for Academics to Not Say Fascism
June 12, 2026 “Competitive Authoritarianism” as a Nice Way for Academics to Not Say Fascism Paul Street Facebook Twitter Reddit Bluesky Email Image by Markus Spiske. The phrase “competitive authoritarianism” has become a common go-to way for liberal and leftish academics, pundits, journalists, and “activists” to foolishly avoid using the scary “F-word” – fascism – to describe the exterminist Trump regime, movement, and party. Here is a summary of the phrase’s meaning and inception from National “Public” Radio’s All Things Considered last month: “Some experts say the United States is no longer a liberal democracy [1] , but operating under a system called ‘ competitive authoritarianism’ … Competitive authoritarian countries have democratic rules and hold competitive elections, but the party in charge uses various tactics to tilt the electoral playing field in its favor to maintain power. Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard …and Lucan Way – now a professor at the Unive...
