ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book systematically assesses how autocracies create an authoritarian public sphere that attempts to legitimate regime power and marginalize critical voices. It shows how the authoritarian state keeps the majority of its people quiescent by manipulating the ways in which they talk and think about politics. Authoritarian regimes with strong coercive capacity tend to be less democratic and to democratize less frequently, suggesting that when autocracies invest in repressive infrastructure, they are prepared to use it. The book examines the authoritarian public sphere in the contexts of North Korea, Burma/Myanmar, and China, and discusses relatively autonomous spaces in North Korean second economy markets, Burmese independent journalism networks, and Chinese cyberspace. It explores the generalizability of these arguments by examining the cases of Park Chung Hee's South Korea, post-Cold War Cuba, and revolutionary Iran.
