Authoritarian States (Part 9 of 13) - Emergence - Methods used - IB History

Human agency encourages us to consider the methods employed by the historical participants to establish an authoritarian regime. We can use a Shakespearean metaphor to help us make sense of this distinction of stucture and agency.
'All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely Players;'
If the structural factors are the stage, directions, costumes, and script, then agency refers to the performance of the actors on that stage, the 'players'. In brief, a lot, but not everything is determined elsewhere but people, real historical actors can and do make a difference. Coercion, persuasion, and consent is a model that is again useful here. Coercion is employed against opponents of the would-be authoritarian regime; persuasive methods refer to efforts made to influence public opinion and consent reflects the fact that regimes that reject liberal democracy can come to power and maintain that power on the basis of popular will.
Another in the series of short films introducing the subject of modern authoritarian states for history students of the IB Diploma.