The Autocrat's Playbook: How Authoritarians Weaponize Morality to Destroy Societies

Across democracies and autocracies alike, a growing form of authoritarian control uses moral slogans and patriotic scripts to quash dissent. Leaders increasingly justify repression in the moral defense of families, children, values, or the nation itself.

In The Autocrat’s Playbook, Baris Cayli Messina introduces the “moral trap,” a novel framework that reveals how authoritarian re...