Russia and Iran: Maintaining Undemocratic Power

Russia and Iran: Maintaining Undemocratic Power

While it is not yet definitive that the world faces a global democratic crisis, it does face an alarming trend of strengthening authoritarian control across several regions. Studying two of these countries, the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran, provides a wealth of knowledge into how these regimes are able to maintain control. Both countries have used largely the same authoritarian playbook, characterized by the use of fear and misinformation to keep democracy and people subdued.