Teaching autocracy in a democratic context

Sheena Chestnut Greitens

Chapter 9 in Teaching Autocracy and Autocratic Politics, 2026, pp 161-181 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Discussions of how global authoritarianism impacts the study of politics have primarily explored its effects on research practices and ethics; to date, the profession has largely overlooked the impact of global authoritarianism on the teaching component of the profession. Yet today, the world has more autocracies than democracies, and nearly three-quarters of the world's population lives in autocratic political systems. Teaching about autocracy in a democratic context is therefore essential but poses several specific challenges. These include challenges of representation, sourcing, and contextualization in syllabus design; positionality of instructors and the student body; effective pedagogical practices; and how to manage potential authoritarian intrusion into the classroom and the risk that transnational repression can shape classroom dynamics inside democracies, through visible or invisible means.

Keywords: Autocracy; Authoritarianism; Academic Freedom; Transnational; Repression; Surveillance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035353453
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035353460.00019 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24174_10

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().