Autoritaarsus

Autoritaarsus is a term used in political science to describe a system of governance in which authority is concentrated in the hands of a single leader or a small ruling elite. Political pluralism is limited or absent, elections may occur but are not fully competitive, and civil liberties such as freedom of expression, assembly, and the press are restricted. The executive typically dominates policy-making, and the judiciary, security services, and state media are employed to maintain control. Mass political mobilization is not a defining feature in the same way as in totalitarian regimes, but coercive means, surveillance, and repression are commonly used to sustain authority.

Variants of autoritaarsus include personalist regimes, military regimes, and one-party systems. Some forms exercise centralized authority with selective economic management while maintaining political repression; others mix populist rhetoric with central control. The concept is distinguished from totalitarianism by its narrower ideological project, reduced mass mobilization, and a looser integration of institutions into a comprehensive state ideology. Elections, when present, are typically designed to confer legitimacy rather than to enable real competition.

Measurement and study of autoritaarsus rely on indicators of political rights, civil liberties, and institutional constraints. Indices from organizations such as Freedom House, Polity IV, and the Varieties of Democracy project are used to assess the level of political openness, rule of law, and the power distribution between leaders and institutions. The term is employed to analyze governance, stability, legitimacy, accountability, and human rights concerns across different regions and historical periods. See also: authoritarianism, autocracy, democracy, rule of law.