Authoritarianism. History and problems of a fundamental contemporary concept

Abstract

Since it was used by Juan Linz to characterize the franquismo political experience, authoritarianism has become a specialized and fundamental concept of comparative politics. Later used in Latin America to name different oppressive political experiences, the term has not ceased to build a conceptual history linked to various political regimes arising (or not) from coups of state and/or military dictatorships. Currently, it reappears with other conceptual variations that jump between territorial scales: electoral, subnational, global authoritarianism. All these new adjectives and uses show the course of a contemporary key concept. This article wants to reconstruct a history of its innovations and persistent problems.