Standing up to authoritarian populism: hopeful resistance in Brazil, India and Turkey

The world-wide march of authoritarian populism is well-documented. Scholars have also examined this march under related rubrics of “democratic backsliding”, “autocratisation”, and “populism”. The causes of the surge in authoritarian populism have been widely debated. However, such processes are not uncontested. The central purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine the disparate ways in which different actors actively resist- rather than passively accept- authoritarian populism. These actors include, but are not limited to, political parties and politicians, civil society organisations, bureaucrats and judges who remain loyal to democratic traditions, transnational networks, free and independent media, artistes, and – not least- ordinary citizens. This paper explores the ways in which actors offer “hopeful resistance” to authoritarian populism in Brazil, India, and Turkey- three countries of the global South where authoritarian populists have respectively mobilised Christian, Hindu, and Muslim religious identities to consolidate popular support.