One would have thought that the end of the Soviet empire and the triumph of the liberal democratic paradigm (the Hegelian “end of history” Fukuyama so controversially cited at the time) would create an environment in which authoritarians were on the defensive, constantly having to justify themselves under the weight of a universally accepted liberal democratic standard.
Thirty-some years later, it is not the case. Authoritarianism is the real paradigm (albeit a pretty amorphous one, given the plurality of authoritarian types in existence), while liberal ideas and institutions have been devalued, even if they continue to command some prestige and international
