Authoritarianism in the 21st Century
A case study: Azerbaijan
According the the freedomhouse index on freedom, who are self-described as dedicated to ‘the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world’, “In Azerbaijan’s authoritarian government, power remains heavily concentrated in the hands of Ilham Aliyev”, who succeeded by his late father Heydar Aliyev was mentored into the position of statesman of Azerbaijan. Alike his father in many ways, Ilham Aliyev is not a hesitant or a wary man, but rather he was matured into the figure of representative of a generously wealthy but young nation. Ilham accompanied his father on a state visit to the White House, Washington D.C. and at a reasonably young age met then President of the United States, Bill Clinton thus largely becoming a custom to what would eventually be the inevitable.
I have visited Baku, Azerbaijan on numerous occasions, usually staying a majority of the permitted and limited 30, sometimes 29 days. Obtaining a VISA to Azerbaijan is not a challenge or a lengthy process as one may think in an Authoritarian state as one might imagine in his or her mind. A simple online process could see the recipient having a printed copy of his or her VISA in hand within several hours. Granted, this was with a European passport. The city of Baku is something marvelous. A mix of an old merchant past, with old city walls, houses, and mosques which are perched above and behind the Maiden Tower and surrounded by an ever-growing and developing city alive with lights, sky-rise buildings, and bustling streets. I was welcomed into the country warmly and had no encounters with problems on any of my four or five entrances into the state.
What are you taking photos of, who are you?
As my partner was holding still and adjusting herself in order to take the optimal photograph of a street in Baku we were confronted by the Authority. After what felt like ten moments I began myself to feel pressure as I knew what would happen if my partner took any longer to capture this image. The police officer[pictured left] strode over towards us as spoke directly to us in Azeri. My partner replied to his question and we asked if he was able to speak English as it might defuse an otherwise awkward situation. I told him that we were trying to take a photo of the statue behind him, not all a lie, and that he was not the object of the photograph. Promptly he asked to see the image, however, my partner explained and pointed to the fact that it was a Yashica analog camera. After one or two seconds of contemplation he let us off with only a caution in which direction our lens is pointed.
On the left we can see the freedomhouse interactive map indicating the ‘free-ness’ of any chosen state. Before we can understand what we are seeing, it would be essential to know something about the author namely freedomhouse. The ‘independent’ organization describes itself as ‘dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world.’ Already one has the embedded idea that a democracy is far superior than any other political system— yet this cannot be stated with such a strong conviction in my opinion, as we can find numerous case studies which indicate vast economic progress in monarchies, authoritarian regimes, and other similar systems. Yet, we cannot ignore the truth of human rights violations coming hand in hand with other types of political systems whereas a democracy has a higher protection of rights and liberties.
What steps has Aliyev taken towards Authoritarianism…
It is well known that Monarchies and even Totalitarian regimes share the principle of generational successions of power to those in the family. The same is very often true in Authoritarian regimes which have existed since the 1930’s. The same is true for Azerbaijan, as previously said, Ilham Aliyev is the son of former President Heydar Aliyev. The trend of nepotism is still prevalent and showed true in Azerbaijan when Ilham appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as the Vice President of Azerbaijan in 2017. This decision was made without much debate and any resistance by the general population as the people generally accept the state family rule. Another case which is taken into consideration is the act whereby the court in Baku banned five independent media websites, yet, we see this today with Youtube censoring ‘right-wing’ or dissident channels and personalities. Is there any difference? Moreover, we cannot judge this as a negative mechanism and behaviour within the state as we do not know the content of those banned websites and what they might promoted or in-sighted.
Widespread corruption in the state was very prevalent less than ten years ago and as in most nations it is still a problem that will need to be attended to. A recent case of corruption gone viral happened in Baku when a couple caught kissing in a public park was approached by a policeman and extorted for money in exchange for silence on the matter. Many of the Azeri people are conservative and are traditional, and often parents will not accept that their daughter might be out holding hands or kissing with a boy to whom she is not married to. This gives leverage to a corrupt policeman. Although this is not an isolated case, it is definitely on the decrease and this exact case became aware to the state authorities as in this case it was addressed and condemned by government officials.
Azerbaijan is not a one state party ruling but rather has many political opposition parties which content in elections. To name a few, Communist Party, Liberal Party, Democratic Party, and of course the ruling party, New Azerbaijan Party or Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası. This is a indication that the New Azerbaijan Party is operating as an Authoritarian system in a Democratic nation and holds the favor of a great majority of the people regardless of abuses written about only by organizations interested in their fervent desire to promote Liberal Democracy.
