The ideological clash between democracy and authoritarianism has been at the forefront of the development of the modern world. Best illustrated during the Cold War, the discord between these two antagonistic schools of political thought was framed as a power struggle between the two great superpowers during that time: the United States and the Soviet Union. However, a closer look at history reveals that shades of this conflict were already present further back in the past.

Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, in his work titled, Democracy vs Authoritarianism: How Ideology Shapes Great Power Conflict, states that the Cold War was just the latest iteration of an ongoing ideological battle which finds its roots in the Peloponnesian War fought by democratic Athens and its allies against belligerent Sparta. As time moved forward, Brands argued that this conflict of ideals was never fully resolved and continues to persist to this day.