IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/indpol/v11y2023i1p27-38.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strongman: The Extraordinary Leaders of India and the Philippines

Author

Listed:
  • Arild Engelsen Ruud

Abstract

Both Narendra Modi and Rodrigo Duterte stand out as leaders that epitomise their respective reigns in ways that previous leaders did not. A juxtaposition of their political personae allows us to investigate a contemporary political phenomenon, that of the elected strongman leader. This article makes three points from this juxtaposition: (a) They presided over a period of ‘democratic backsliding’. (b) They came with social media. (c) They are their own message and that message is that they are extraordinary leaders, above ordinary constraints. This article concludes that they represent strongman politics—where they as their people’s representative engage in acts symbolic of the people’s sovereignty. In an age of discontent with democracy, new and social media have allowed them to portray themselves as true defenders of ‘the people’.

Suggested Citation

  • Arild Engelsen Ruud, 2023. "Strongman: The Extraordinary Leaders of India and the Philippines," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 11(1), pages 27-38, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:indpol:v:11:y:2023:i:1:p:27-38
    DOI: 10.1177/23210230231166184
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23210230231166184
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23210230231166184?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sergei Guriev & Daniel Treisman, 2022. "Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03916510, HAL.
    2. Sandeep Shastri, 2019. "The Modi Factor in the 2019 Lok Sabha Election: How Critical Was It to the BJP Victory?," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 7(2), pages 206-218, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bjørnskov, Christian & Freytag, Andreas & Gutmann, Jerg, 2022. "Coups and the dynamics of media freedom," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. Nikolova, Milena & Popova, Olga, 2023. "Echoes of the Past: The Enduring Impact of Communism on Contemporary Freedom of Speech Values," IZA Discussion Papers 16657, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Caner Bakir, 2023. "The vicious circle of policy advisory systems and knowledge regimes in consolidated authoritarian regimes," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 42(3), pages 419-439.
    4. Vadim Ustyuzhanin, 2024. "Wealth and Rebellion: A Dualistic Perspective on Income Level and Revolutions," HSE Working papers WP BRP 92/PS/2024, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    5. Schulze, Günther G. & Zakharov, Nikita, 2023. "Political cycles of media repression," BOFIT Discussion Papers 3/2023, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    6. Marcel Caesmann & Janis Goldzycher & Matteo Grigoletto & Lorenz Gschwent, 2024. "Censorship in democracy," ECON - Working Papers 446, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    7. Gehlbach, Scott & Luo, Zhaotian & Shirikov, Anton & Vorobyev, Dmitriy, 2024. "Is There Really a Dictator's Dilemma? Information and Repression in Autocracy," SocArXiv b94fc, Center for Open Science.
    8. Hafner-Burton, Emilie M & Schneider, Christina J, 2023. "The International Liberal Foundations of Democratic Backsliding," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt0965w1jb, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    9. Fungáčová, Zuzana & Schoors, Koen & Solanko, Laura & Weill, Laurent, 2023. "Staying on top: Political cycles in private bank lending," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 899-917.
    10. Ramūnas Povilanskas & Artūras Razinkovas-Baziukas, 2023. "Transboundary Transitional Waters: Arenas for Cross-Border Cooperation or Confrontation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-25, June.
    11. Cottiero, Christina & Hafner-Burton, Emily & Haggard, Stephan & Prather, Lauren & Schneider, Christina J, 2024. "Illiberal Regimes and International Organizations," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt2bx6b98g, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    12. Jyoti Mishra & Vibha Attri, 2020. "Governance, Public Service Delivery and Trust in Government," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 8(2), pages 186-202, December.
    13. Kim, Nam Kyu, 2023. "Regime legitimation strategies and competition laws in autocracies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:indpol:v:11:y:2023:i:1:p:27-38. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.