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Strongmen Fall When Corruption is on the Ballot

Ruth Ben-Ghiat · 26 Oct 2026

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  1. So I ask us to consider an updated way of thinking about authoritarianism as a political system centered on processes of corruption and plunder. State capture is the means, but plunder is the end.
  2. Authoritarianism also about restricting or eliminating the rights of the many and giving vast new liberties to the very few to plunder and exploit the workforce, the environment, female bodies, natural resources, and much more.
  3. The task of 21st century resistance is not only to bring down authoritarian political structures, but also undo systems of corruption and exploitation that sustain those structures and move beyond a worldview that sees humans and the natural world as assets to be used and discarded.

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