Why We Elect Former Dictators and Their Children

This essay argues that a notable but understudied feature of contemporary democracy is the electoral success of former dictators (“dictocrats”) and their children (“dictobrats”). This dynamic is the result of a tension between “authoritarian inheritance,” the benefits regimes leave behind, and “authoritarian baggage,” the liabilities of repression and illegitimacy. Unlike authoritarian successor parties, dictocrats and dictobrats cannot credibly distance themselves from the past, so they often openly embrace it. Their appeal rests on memories—whether real or mythologized through nostalgia—of order, stability, or achievement. Democracies must counter authoritarian nostalgia by correcting false narratives and addressing the grievances that sustain it.