# Are there terms for authoritarianism waves (opposite of democracy waves) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 11, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642 "2018-02-11T19:11:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/1 "2018-02-11T19:11:33Z")
Supposedly democracy occurs on a large scale (not just in isolated countries) and so far, 4 waves have been identified. > **[Waves of democracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_of_democracy)** > > In political science, the waves of democracy are major surges of democracy that have occurred in history. Although the term appears at least as early as 1887, it was popularized by Samuel P. Huntington, a political scientist at Harvard University, in his article published in the Journal of Democracy and further expounded in his 1991 book, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Democratization waves have been linked to sudden shifts in the distribution of power among the Early 18th century Post WW2 Decolonization in the 70s and 80s Arab spring and Eastern European revolutions in the last 20 years. Do authoritarian, anti democracy movements occur in waves? Example, the rise of fascism and communism in the 20s-40s era? Or the rise of right wing populism now? Other than Venezuela, are there authoritarian regimes that are turning back human rights that have a leftward political slant? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/2 "2018-02-12T04:13:38Z")
nm. Im a guest, so my location does not appear on my post. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/3 "2018-02-12T10:08:09Z")
Actually yes it does, **jtur** , top right corner. They turned them on a while back. Nowhere near as radical (thankfully), but Evo Morales in Bolivia is aligned with the policies of Venezuela and Cuba. He has renationalized oil and other companies which had been privatized by the previous government, but after the initial ruckus the process actually went pretty swimmingly. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/4 "2018-02-12T10:53:00Z")
any time a generation gets old, they get scared about how things are “changing for the worse” and try to clamp down in a “law and oirder, we will go back to the ‘good ol’ days’” push. This past election was nothing more than the Boomers having their last temper tantrum. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/5 "2018-02-12T13:32:19Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Actually yes it does, **jtur** , top right corner. They turned them on a while back. > . Apparently, everyone in the world can see it except me, unless I log out and view my posts as an outsider. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/6 "2018-02-12T15:28:10Z")
Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Cebu, Philippines Posts: 13,644 I’m logged in and a guest same as you. Might be something about your cache. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/7 "2018-02-12T15:45:17Z")
Here in America we just call it [THE WAVE.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICng-KRxXJ8) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/8 "2018-02-12T20:45:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Are there terms for authoritarianism waves “Reaction” or “the pendulum swinging back” > [@](#): > > Do authoritarian, anti democracy movements occur in waves? Napoleon Bonaparte may have been a military dictator, but his propaganda machine used the rhetoric of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. For about a century after he fell, revolution was out of fashion in most of Europe, except for a couple of brief outbursts in 1848. If you study Chinese history, you will run into the [Dynastic Cycle theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynastic_cycle). China has oscillated between tyranny and anarchy, and Chinese historians have traditionally considered tyranny to be less dangerous than anarchy. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/9 "2018-02-17T08:16:22Z")
I’m logged in now, and here is the entirety of what appears above the text of my post: jtur88 jtur88 is online now Guest Join Date: Aug 2011 ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-terms-for-authoritarianism-waves-opposite-of-democracy-waves/808642/10 "2018-02-17T08:24:35Z")
It’s visible in Sultantheme, not in SD Classic, for all users.