Confession as Regime Legitimacy Tool

Authoritarian regimes seek public admissions of guilt not because they need evidence but because voluntary‑sounding confession signals moral consent and stabilizes power. Requiring subjects to say they deserve punishment converts coercion into a justificatory story that outsiders and collaborators can use to rationalize the system. — Recognizing confession as a political technology changes how observers read trials, show trials, and public remorse — shifting responses from narrow rights claims to cultural and informational countermeasures.