Authoritarian capitalism

Authoritarian capitalism, or illiberal capitalism, is an economic system in which a capitalist market economy exists alongside an authoritarian government. Related to and overlapping with state capitalism, a system in which the state undertakes commercial activity, authoritarian capitalism combines private property and the functioning of market forces with repression of dissent, restrictions on freedom of speech and either a lack of elections or an electoral system with a single dominant political party. Countries commonly referred to as being authoritarian capitalist states include China since the economic reforms, Hungary under Viktor Orbán, Russia under Vladimir Putin, Chile under Augusto Pinochet, Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew and Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well as fascist regimes and military dictatorships during the Cold War. Nazi Germany has also been described as authoritarian capitalist, especially for its privatization policy in the 1930s. Political scientists disagree on the long-run sustainability of authoritarian capitalism, with arguments both for and against the long-term viability of political repression alongside a capitalist free-market economic system. As a political economic model, authoritarian capitalism is not a recent phenomenon. Throughout history, examples of authoritarian capitalism include Manuel Estrada Cabrera's and Jorge Ubico's respective reigns in Guatemala, Augusto Pinochet's reign in Chile, Suharto's New Order in Indonesia and the People's Action Party's early administration in Singapore. During World War I, the ideological divide between authoritarian and liberal regimes was significantly less pronounced as both were aligned to capitalist economic models. Moreover, the Axis powers of World War II have been described as possessing totalitarian capitalist economic systems, acting as examples of the early developments of authoritarian capitalism. From the end of World War II, various authoritarian capitalism regimes emerged, developed and transitioned into a liberal capitalist model through East Asia, Southern Europe and Latin America.