ABSTRACT
The authoritarian modernization project is tempting in many ways in various political and social settings. This project tends to be perceived in the narrow sense, as a set of technical policy measures intended to achieve a high level of socio-economic development through rapid economic growth, while the broad aspects of political modernization (e.g. political freedoms) either remain beyond the current modernization agenda or are postponed to a distant future. It has been fuelled by recent economic advancements in East Asia (especially in China) and endorsed by a number of experts, policymakers, and citizens across the globe. The temptation to improve policy performance with a “free hand”, without the constraints and defects inherent in many liberal democracies, is amplified by the fact that authoritarianism allows the government to be insulated from the impact of political parties and public preferences; thus, it is able to successfully implement those unpopular policies which are so often blocked under democratic regimes.
