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Rise of China complicates ‘authoritarian’ vs ‘democratic’ binary

There is growing unease in how we describe political systems today. Words that once seemed clear no longer illuminate as they should. “Free”, “democratic”, “liberal”…

By Samantha Johnson / May 10, 2026

There is growing unease in how we describe political systems today. Words that once seemed clear no longer illuminate as they should. “Free”, “democratic”, “liberal” and “authoritarian” are among the most commonly used terms in political discourse, yet their meanings have become increasingly blurred and contested.

This is not simply a matter of semantics. It reflects a deeper mismatch between the language we use and the realities we are trying to describe.

The problem is not new. In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, he warned of a world where political language is stripped of precision and repurposed to shape perception rather than convey truth. While today’s discourse is far more open, that concern is increasingly loud in the way political labels are deployed – less as analytical tools and more as signals of approval or disapproval.

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For much of the post-Cold War period, the vocabulary of “liberal democracy” carried both descriptive and normative weight. It described a system of electoral competition, rule of law and individual freedoms, but also implied a direction of travel for the rest of the world.
Countries were often assessed on how closely they approximated this model, on the assumption liberal democracy not only conferred political legitimacy but also expedited economic development and enhanced social well-being by enabling individuals to feel free to pursue their aspirations and realise their potential.

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Within that framework, “authoritarianism” became its opposite: a system assumed to be rigid, repressive and ultimately inefficient. A widely held belief was that such systems, by restricting information and suppressing dissent, would struggle to innovate and adapt in a fast-changing global economy.

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