Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
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Notes -
Many times, I think any explanation of the authoritarian regime, of trying to understand it, and therefore explains its actions, will just boil down to "because they want to keep their power" and "because they want to exercise their power". I don't think it's necessary to have to dive into youthful childhoods, psychological makeups, sociological contexts, religo-ideological-cultural histories, politico-economic analyses, and all the different litanies of explanation for why authoritarian regimes are the way they are because what they are and what they want are so nakedly obvious.
Musings on "because they want to keep their power"
In 2021, the Minister of Public Security To Lam ate some $1000 steak wrapped in gold at the height of the pandemic. Well, now that he's the most powerful person in the country, it would be nice if no one keep mentioning that anymore or else the people might actually go and remember that they're the People. And it doesn't have to be just that guy, there are more than 5.3million Party members, and all those military leaders, and industrial leaders. And they're all the same people, they hang out with each other, they go on vacations together, their kids marry each other. They too have a vested interest keeping the bad news off the minds of the masses. It's the same with China and Jack Ma really, "oh you want to get rich? sure sure, give us a cut, but always remember that it's under our whims". Unfortunate for Vietnam but we didn't have a Deng and we definitely did not get a Shenzen out of that deal.
Musings on "because they want to exercise their power"
Marcus Aurelius is a stoic. Marcus Aurelius also happens to be the Emperor of the greatest Empire West of the Himalayans in history (at the time). Through his Meditations, which is really only his diary, we see a man constantly repeating to himself multiple times the same thing, self-restraining himself, reminding himself of the core values of what constitutes eudaimonia. Now Rome was no doubt an authoritarian regime, and that's exactly why we still revere Marcus Aurelius. Because he could have been violent, he could have been depraved, he could have been egoistical, etc. and etc, but he didn't and continually refused to succumb to the baser instincts of man. Do I believe that To Lam is a smart man, absolutely, at the very least it has to be some kind of low cunning to beat out 5.3 million people for the top spot. Do I believe he is an effective leader, also absolutely, how could someone be not when they have to manage the hounds of a state, an authoritarian one at that. Let's even give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't choose to eat a golden-steak, it was a gift, a surprise by the restaurant owner. But did he succumb to his baser instinct? I bet goddamn he did. And now he and all the other golden-steak eating cadres just want to continue to be able to do that.
Last musings
Now of course, all those "litanies" mentioned in the beginning make for quite good reading, but I am not sure if all that matters in terms of real-life tactics and strategies. Fuel for propaganda, yes. Maybe even in a know-yourself-know-your-enemy kind of way if you're some kind of on-the-ground tactician. But in the end, the authoritarian motivations are very simple, no matter the trappings we or they heap upon themselves for why they do the things they do.
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