Bonnie Girard
From cautious concern to doomsday predictions, the U.S.-China Security and Review Commission (USCC) heard testimony on February 20 that broadly addressed one question: Is China a partner in an “Axis of Autocracy,” alongside the other major autocratic countries of Iran, North Korea, and Russia?
Interestingly, the scope of the Commission’s hearing was limited to addressing the relationships between only four of the world’s autocracies. Yet, multiple sources state that, in fact, the population of the world is far more governed by autocracies than not. Indeed, a map of autocracies around the world shows that the nations of the African continent are led far more by autocrats than by any other political system – yet none of these governments were included in the USCC’s “axis.”
By not encouraging comment and debate on the rest of the autocratic world, largely found in Africa and the Middle East, an opportunity is missed. In diving deeper into other autocracies’ links with the “big four” and among themselves, we would gain a more profound understanding of the power of autocratic societies and their consequential and complex relationships.
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