THE INVISIBLE MECHANISMS OF CONTROL IN AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES: FROM COERCION TO CONSENT AND MORAL NORMALIZATION

Authoritarian regimes understand that fear alone cannot secure long-term power; durable control requires invisible mechanisms that shape everyday moral and social realities. This article argues that such mechanisms operate by morally normalising obedience, transforming compliance into perceived virtue. Religion, as both an ethical and communicative institution, exemplifies this process: it disseminates norms, structures daily life, and renders hierarchical authority “natural,” making resistance psychologically and socially difficult. The study examines how coercion, ideological consent, and moral internalisation interact to stabilise authoritarian rule, and explores whether secular governance can avoid similar dynamics. The analysis demonstrates that secularism does not inherently prevent moralised control; civic, bureaucratic, or ideological institutions can reproduce comparable mechanisms of compliance. Key discoveries include the centrality of moral normalisation in sustaining authority, the role of religion as a technology of everyday obedience, and the subtle ways secular regimes can replicate these effects. The article outlines directions for future research, including how educational, bureaucratic, or civic institutions shape moralised subjectivity, and ethical strategies for resisting invisible forms of power. This study will interest scholars of political theory, sociology of religion, governance, and contemporary authoritarianism, offering insights into the interplay of power, belief, and moral compliance across religious and secular contexts.