Antidemocratic

Antidemocratic is an adjective used to describe ideas, movements, institutions, or policies that oppose democracy or undermine its core principles. Etymology traces to anti-, meaning against, and demos, meaning people, from ancient Greek. In political science, the term denotes tendencies that threaten or bypass the processes by which government is chosen, power is constrained by law, and political equality is pursued.

Common manifestations include authoritarian governance, dictatorship, or oligarchic rule that concentrates power and diminishes popular participation; measures such as censorship, suppression of opposition, control of the media, manipulation of elections, and erosion of judicial independence.

Some actors describe themselves as anti-democratic to appeal to ideals of order, unity, or tradition, while analysts typically classify such actions as undemocratic or anti-democratic depending on context. The term is descriptive but value-laden, and it is often used polemically. Critics warn that labels can blur distinctions between different forms of non-democratic rule or justify punitive responses without careful analysis.

Scholars distinguish between regimes that are non-democratic but not explicitly anti-democratic and those that explicitly reject democratic norms. The label can also apply to movements advocating constitutional changes that retain formal elections while narrowing rights or concentrating power. In practice, anti-democratic tendencies can appear across the political spectrum, complicating efforts to protect or promote democratic governance.