Even though liberal western democracies have denied providing direct support to authoritarian regimes, the session provides evidence to the contrary. International aid is an important source of support for many authoritarian regimes in the South. In fact, most coups occur in countries that receive international aids ( Svolik 2012) . The session identified several reasons for providing aid and support to authoritarian regimes. Strategic and security interest is the major reason for providing international aid to authoritarian regimes. Global geopolitics is also contributing to continued international support for these regimes ( Tansey 2016) . However, providing aids to these states is not bad provided they are used for the intended purposes. For instance, it would be imprudent to deny aids to famine stricken citizens and people affected by war in Syria.
The increasing role of internet in shaping international relations is also evident. Authoritarian leaders are using social media to manage their external and internal relationship ( Lynch 2011) . This demonstrates that internet is no longer a threat to survival of these regimes as it was initially perceived. In fact, many authoritarian regimes are expanding internet access, but have also increased control over the use of internet. Social media is also used by non state actors to influence domestic regimes; especially authoritarian government. This was demonstrated in Arab springs revolutions which targeted authoritarian regimes ( Fidler, 2014) . Therefore, internet is a useful tool in both domestic and international politics.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The interest of the countries offering aids is what matters when it come to international support regardless of the kind of regime. This explains why most international sponsors are no longer putting pressure on authoritative leaders. They would rather have authoritarian leaders that meet their interest than having democratically elected leaders. The current example is Egypt where coup leaders have continued to receive support from international donors at the expense of Democracy. It is also clear that threat posed by internet to autocracy has reduced significantly over years. In fact, it has become a propaganda tool by authoritarian leaders.
References
Svolik, M.W., 2012. The politics of authoritarian rule . Cambridge University Press.
Tansey, O. (2016). International Politics of Authoritarian Rule . Oxford University Press.
Fidler, D.P., 2014. Cyberspace, C'est Moi-Authoritarian Leaders, the Internet, and International Politics, Le. Seton Hall J. Dipl. & Int'l Rel. , 15 , p.7.
Lynch, M., 2011. After Egypt: The limits and promise of online challenges to the authoritarian Arab state. Perspectives on politics , 9 (2), pp.301-310.
