The researchers established that there were
three pillars sustaining autocratic regimes: legitimation, repression and cooptation......
Cooptation means incorporating people.....given the opportunity to be part of the system and benefit from it...................
Repression ......cracks down openly on demonstrators and members of the opposition, but most repression there remains hidden. "
Undesirable journalists get hit with a flood of libel actions, or the tax authorities go after critics of the regime," ..........
The factor that has the greatest influence on whether an authoritarian leader or an undemocratic regime is able to hold on to power is
legitimation........... the ruler must create his own form of legitimation....appeal to nationalist instincts....evoke an ideology, such as Communism......Another way is to
promise economic prosperity
http://www.dw.com/en/how-do-dictatorships-survive/a-17062347
