ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ideological modules of the recent wave of autocratization. It detects the emergence of still fragmented but increasingly robust illiberal argumentation. The illiberal discourse is anti-universalist but typically not openly anti-democratic. It gains much of its traction from the backlash against progressive victories in the culture wars. Appropriating anti-colonial arguments, it advocates the coexistence of different political regimes while it venerates homogeneity and the centralization of power within national borders. While shifts toward autocratic structures can be non-ideological, paternalist populism, illiberal conservatism and, in certain parts of the world, civilizationist ethnocentrism, constitute ideational modules that help the cause of autocratizers.
