How Countries Maintain Authoritarian Rule?

How Countries Maintain Authoritarian Rule?
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Introduction
In an authoritarian country, the system of polices employed by the government are greatly focused on control and order, where these countries favor the dominant command of the authority rather than the citizens freedom (Vasquez, 2016). Additionally, an authoritarian form of government, in most case, are headed by either a single person that possesses absolute sovereign over the country, or headed by a group of people or a coalition where power is equally distributed among its members including the institutions involved (Vasquez, 2016). Many countries were observed to exhibit authoritarian forms of government or closely similar to autocratic regimes; however, authoritarianism is usually hated by the citizens of the country as most leaders abuse their powers and repress the rights of their people (Vasquez, 2016). This is the main downside of authoritarianism as people tend to revolt against their government and destabilize the seat of power to change their country, so, how does these countries maintain authoritarian control? One of these countries is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or North Korea. North Korea is a common example of a country that has an existing authoritarian regime in its government where the country's autocratic control is regarded as the longest surviving regime after World War 2 (Song & Wrigth, 2018). Although different authoritarian countries employ different kinds of strategies to strengthen their control over the people, the North Korean strategies to maintain their authoritarian regime should be further studied due to their long-lasting autocratic regime.
According to the study made by Byman and Lind (2010) titled, "Pyongyang's Survival Strategy: Tools of Authoritarian Control in North Korea," the authors outlined the following strategies: restrictive social policies; manipulation of idea and information; use of force; co-optation; manipulation of foreign governments; and institutional coup-proofing, as important tools for the North Korean autocratic government to stay in power. On the other hand, the study by McEachern (2018) titled, "Comparative authoritarian institutionalism, regime evolution, and stability," the authors analyzed the one-political structure, personalist element, and hereditary succession as the most important factors in stabilizing an authoritarian regime. In this paper, the similarities and differences of the two articles concerning the important factors that maintains authoritarian rule will be analyzed. Additionally, this paper will weigh the theoretical argument, methodological approach, and findings to know which of the two article has the most convincing explanation on how authoritarian countries maintain their rule.
Similarities of Theoretical Arguments
The similarities in both articles include the prevention of the uprising of the people or coup d’état by controlling the elite and by manipulating information that is available to the masses. In controlling the elite, the article of McEacheran (2018), stated that authoritarian regimes are abolished by revolution of the elite and the masses. These are the main challengers towards Authoritarian lead...