Editing Power (social and political) (section)

=== Political power in authoritarian regimes ===
In [[authoritarian]] regimes, political power is concentrated in the hands of a single leader or a small group of leaders who exercise almost complete control over the government and its institutions.<ref name="Foundation">{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=William Roberts |last2=Golder |first2=Matt |last3=Nadenichek |first3=Sona |title=Foundations of Comparative Politics |date=2019 |publisher=CQ Press |location=California |isbn=9781506360737 |pages=174–194 |edition=1st}}</ref> Because some authoritarian leaders are not elected by a majority, their main threat is that posed by the masses.<ref name="Foundation" /> They often maintain their power through political control tactics like:

# '''Repression:''' The state targets actors who challenge their beliefs. Can be done directly or indirectly.<ref name="Hassan">{{cite journal |last1=Hassan |first1=Mai |last2=Mattingly |first2=Daniel |last3=Nugent |first3=Elizabeth R. |title=Political Control |journal=Annual Review of Political Science |year=2022 |volume=25 |pages=155–174|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-013321 |s2cid=241393914 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
#:* Autocrats repress actors they perceive as having irreconcilable interests, and cooperate with those they think have reconcilable ones.<ref name="autocracies and the control">{{cite journal |last1=Reny |first1=Marie-Eve |title=Autocracies and the Control of Societal Organizations |journal=Cambridge University Press |date=January 2021 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=39–58}}</ref>
#:* Because of preference falsification- distinguishing between an individual's private preference and public preference- sometimes repression in itself is not enough.<ref name="Kuran">{{cite journal |last1=Kuran |first1=Timur |title=Now out of Never |journal=World Politics |date=October 1991 |volume=27 |pages=7–48 |doi=10.2307/2010422 |jstor=2010422 |s2cid=154090678 |url=https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/economicsperg_ppe/19 |access-date=9 April 2023 |archive-date=17 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417110508/https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/economicsperg_ppe/19/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
# '''Indoctrination:''' The state controls public education and uses propaganda to diffuse its views and values into society.<ref name="Hassan" /> 
#:* A one standard deviation increase in pro-regime propaganda reduces the odds of protest the following day by 15%.<ref name="propaganda and protest">{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Erin Baggott |last2=Carter |first2=Brett L. |title=Propaganda and Protest in Autocracies |journal=  Journal of Conflict Resolution|date=10 December 2020 |volume=65 |issue=5 |pages=919–949 |doi=10.1177/0022002720975090|s2cid=210169503 }}</ref> 
# '''Coercive distribution:''' The state distributes welfare and resources to keep people dependent while offering benefits to people they know they can manipulate.<ref name="Hassan" /> 
# '''Infiltration:''' The state assigns people to go into grassroot level to sway the public in favor of the authoritarian regime.<ref name="Hassan" /> 

Although several regimes follow these general forms of control, different authoritarian sub-regime types rely on different political control tactics.<ref name="Frantz">{{cite book |last1=Frantz |first1=Erica |title=Authoritarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know |date=12 November 2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190880194 |pages=Ch. 5}}</ref>