Authoritarian Third Way

Authoritarian Third Way believes that political syncretism and compromises can only be achieved with a strong state.

[[File:Cball-Romania.png]] Romania [[File:PSD.png]]

 * Ion Iliescu is a Romanian politician and engineer, the founder of the [[File:PSD.png]] Social Democratic Party, who served as President of Romania from 1989 to 1996 and from 2000 to 2004. Iliescu rose to prominence during the [[File:Cball-SRRomania.png]] communist era when he joined the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1953 and became a member of its Central Committee in 1965. He was eventually marginalized by dictator [[File:Natcom.png]] Nicolae Ceaușescu and eventually came to play a leading role in the Romanian Revolution during the fall of communism.

After the overthrow of Ceaușescu in December 1989, Ion Iliescu was recognized as the co-leader leader of the National Salvation Front (FSN) an organization formed by second-rank Communist party members opposed to the policies of Ceaușescu to fill in the power vacuum caused by the fall of the dictator and lead the transition to parliamentary democracy. In recent times Iliescu has been accused of committing crimes against humanity by approving deadly militaristic measures against civilians during the aftermath of the Romanian Revolution.

In 2004, during Iliescu's second presidency, Romania joined NATO and has taken part in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War with boots-on-the-ground troops in both wars.

[[File:Cball-Georgia.png]] Georgia [[File:Shevardnadze.png]]

 * [[File:Shevardnadze.png]] Eduard Shevardnadze was a [[File:Cball-Georgia.png]] Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia for several non-consecutive periods from the 1970s-1980s as the First Secretary of Georgian Communist Party of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and as President of Georgia from 1995 until his resignation in 2003.

As First Secretary, Shevardnadze started several economic reforms, which would spur economic growth in the republic despite the nationwide economic stagnation that plagued the Soviet Union. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Shevardnadze to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and would play a crucial role in forming the Soviet's new foreign policy under the Gorbachev era. He negotiated nuclear arms treaties with the United States, helped end the war in  Afghanistan, allowed the reunification of  Germany, and withdrew Soviet forces from Eastern Europe and from the Chinese border. His western-friendly foreign policy put him at odds with Soviet hardliners who saw him as a sellout to the west.

In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, Shevardnadze returned to the newly independent Georgia and became the country's second 2nd head of the state in 1995. His presidency was marked by rampant corruption and accusations of nepotism as was the case in all  post-communist countries of the former Eastern bloc at the time.

Shevardnadze also faced separatist conflicts in the regions of  South Ossetia and  Abkhazia and the first Chechen war which damaged Georgia's relations with  Russia, which accused Shevardnadze of harboring  Chechen guerrillas and in apparent retaliation supported Georgian separatists of the aforementioned separatist regions. Georgia-Russia relations were worsened by Shevardnadze's US-friendly foreign policy and strategic alliance with NATO which saw him as a counterbalance to Russian influence in the Transcaucasus.

Eduard Shevardnadze resigned following the 2003 Rose Revolution motivated by the rampant corruption in his administration and electoral fraud in the 2003 presidential election.

[[File:Thailand.png]] Thailand [[File:Thaksin.png]]

 * [[File:Thaksin.png]] Thaksin Shinawatra is a Thai [[File:Plutocrat.png]] billionaire, the founder of mobile phone operator Advanced info service and IT and telecommunications conglomerate Shin Corporation, a former police officer, the founder of Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT), who served as the Prime Minister of [[File:Thailand.png]] Thailand from 2001 to 2006. Thaksin ran on a populist platform and during his tenure launched programs to reduce poverty, expand infrastructure, promote small and medium-sized enterprises, and extend universal healthcare coverage.

Thaksin and his government did however show authoritarian tendencies on multiple occasions. He declared a "war on drugs" in which more than 2,500 people were killed and took a strong-arm approach against the separatist insurgency in the  Muslim southern provinces. Thaksin also got his country involved in the Iraq War following the US-led invasion of  Iraq. Thailand contributed 423 non-combat troops in August 2003 to nation-building and medical assistance in post-Saddam Iraq. Troops of the Royal Thai Army were attacked in the 2003 Karbala bombings, which killed two soldiers and wounded five others. However, the Thai mission in Iraq was considered an overall success, and Thailand withdrew its forces in August 2004. The mission was considered the main reason the United States decided to designate Thailand as a major non-NATO ally in 2003.

A citizens' movement against Thaksin, called the People's Alliance for Democracy or "Yellow Shirts", launched mass protests, accusing him of  corruption, abuse of power, and  autocratic tendencies.

Thaksin was overthrown in a military coup on 19 September 2006 and was barred from all political activity. He has continued to influence Thai politics from abroad through the Pheu Thai Party, as well as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship or the "Red Shirt" movement which challenges the power of the Military Dictatorship and aims for greater democracy and justice in Thai politics. His younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra was the prime minister of Thailand from 2011 to 2014 until she too was ousted in a military coup.

How to Draw
Authoritarian Third Way Flag.jpeg


 * 1) Draw a ball.
 * 2) Fill it in with black
 * 3) Draw a white inverted triangle in middle of the ball.
 * 4) Draw a rose in pink.
 * 5) Add the eyes and you're done!

[[File:Wikipedia.png]] Wikipedia

 * Shinawatra