Happy Sunday − and welcome to the best of The Conversation U.S. Here are a few of our recently published stories:

• Coral reefs face an uncertain recovery from the 4th global mass bleaching event – are climate refuges an option?
• US health care is rife with high costs and deep inequities, and that’s no accident – a public health historian explains how the system was shaped to serve profit and politicians

President Donald Trump has resisted following court orders, threatened to arrest or investigate political opponents and withheld federal funding that Congress appropriated. These types of actions have raised fears that the U.S. is sliding toward an autocracy – a charge that others claim is overblown or unfounded.

Political scientists have noted that the U.S. is not the only country where leaders are testing if not outright abandoning political norms. But the playbook for these political leaders is a break from 20-century authoritarians, writes Daniel Treisman, a scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Treisman and other political scientists have coined a few different terms to describe today's autocratic political leaders such as El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. Phrases used to describe the leaders or the government systems they control are electoral authoritarianism, competitive authoritarianism, and spin dictatorship.

Each of these terms refers to political leaders who try to control people not through physical force but by using the media and other levers of power.

“They project a polished image, avoid overt violence and speak the language of democracy. They wear suits, hold elections and talk about the will of the people,” Treisman writes. “Rather than terrorizing citizens, many use media control and messaging to shape public opinion and promote nationalist narratives. Many gain power not through military coups but at the ballot box.”