How Democracies Die Book

How Democracies Die: A Deep Dive into Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt's Masterpiece

Are you concerned about the fragility of democracy in the modern world? Do you want to understand the subtle ways authoritarianism can creep into seemingly stable democratic systems? Then you need to understand How Democracies Die, the chillingly prescient book by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. This comprehensive guide delves into the book's core arguments, providing insights into its key takeaways and offering a critical analysis of its relevance in today's political landscape. We'll examine the authors' central thesis, explore their case studies, and discuss the practical implications of their findings, leaving you with a deeper understanding of this important work and its continuing relevance.

Understanding the Central Thesis: The Slow, Subtle Erosion of Democracy

How Democracies Die challenges the conventional wisdom that democracies die through dramatic coups d'état. Levitsky and Ziblatt argue that the death of democracy is often a slow, insidious process, characterized by a gradual erosion of democratic norms and institutions. They highlight how seemingly innocuous actions – the undermining of the press, the manipulation of the judiciary, the exploitation of partisan polarization – can pave the way for authoritarian rule. The book emphasizes that the demise of democracy is not necessarily a violent overthrow, but rather a calculated dismantling from within, often carried out by elected leaders who exploit existing vulnerabilities in the system.

Key Actors in Democratic Decline: The Role of Political Elites

One of the book's most significant contributions is its focus on the role of political elites in democratic backsliding. The authors argue that it is often not external forces, but rather ambitious and unscrupulous politicians within the system who dismantle democratic institutions for personal gain or to maintain power. This isn't about foreign interference or revolutionary movements, but about the internal choices made by those entrusted with upholding democratic norms.

#### The Four Pillars of Democratic Norms:

Levitsky and Ziblatt identify four key norms that are crucial for maintaining a healthy democracy:

Mutual Toleration: The acceptance of political opponents as legitimate actors within the system. This involves respecting the right of opponents to exist and compete for power.
Forbearance: The willingness of political actors to restrain their own power, even when they have the opportunity to exploit it for partisan advantage. This involves consciously limiting the use of power to prevent undermining the system.
Institutional Commitment: A commitment to the rules and institutions of the democratic system, even when those rules are inconvenient or disadvantageous.
Reciprocal Accountability: A system of checks and balances that keeps political actors accountable to one another and to the people.


The erosion of even one of these pillars can weaken the entire democratic structure, creating opportunities for further decline.

Case Studies: Lessons from History

How Democracies Die doesn't rely solely on abstract theory. The authors provide compelling case studies of democratic decline in various countries, including examples from both the 20th and 21st centuries. They analyze the strategies used by authoritarian leaders, showing how they systematically dismantled democratic institutions and norms. These detailed analyses add depth to their argument, illustrating the practical application of their theory. These real-world examples, from historical dictatorships to more contemporary examples, provide stark warnings and powerful insights.

Relevance to Contemporary Politics: A Timely Warning

The book's relevance is undeniable in today's political climate. The rise of populism, the spread of misinformation, and the increasing polarization of societies all contribute to the fragility of democratic systems globally. Levitsky and Ziblatt's analysis offers a framework for understanding these threats and for developing strategies to counter them. The book's warning is not merely historical; it is a prescient call to action for citizens and leaders alike.

The Importance of Citizen Engagement: Protecting Democracy

The authors emphasize the crucial role of citizens in safeguarding democracy. They argue that informed and engaged citizens are essential for holding political leaders accountable and for resisting the erosion of democratic norms. This requires a deep understanding of how democracies function and a willingness to actively participate in the political process.

Conclusion

How Democracies Die is not just another political science textbook; it's a vital and timely warning. Levitsky and Ziblatt’s analysis offers a powerful framework for understanding the subtle ways democracies can crumble, providing both historical context and contemporary relevance. By understanding the mechanisms of democratic decline, citizens can become more effective guardians of their own freedoms and participate more actively in strengthening democratic institutions. The book serves as a critical wake-up call, urging readers to actively participate in preserving and strengthening their democratic systems.

FAQs:

1. Is How Democracies Die only relevant to specific countries? No, the book's principles apply universally. While it uses specific examples, the underlying mechanisms of democratic decline are applicable to democracies worldwide, regardless of their historical context or political systems.

2. What practical steps can citizens take to protect their democracy? Citizens can actively participate in the political process, stay informed about current events, critically evaluate information sources, support independent journalism, and hold their elected officials accountable.

3. Does the book offer solutions to democratic decline? While the book primarily focuses on the causes of decline, it implicitly suggests solutions by highlighting the importance of civic engagement, institutional strengthening, and the upholding of democratic norms.

4. How does How Democracies Die differ from other books on authoritarianism? It emphasizes the subtle, incremental nature of democratic decline, focusing on the role of political elites and the erosion of democratic norms rather than solely on violent coups.

5. Is the book overly pessimistic about the future of democracy? While the book presents a sobering analysis, it ultimately aims to be a call to action, urging readers to actively participate in preserving and strengthening democratic systems. It’s not about despair, but about informed and proactive engagement.


  how democracies die book: How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt, 2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Time • Foreign Affairs • WBUR • Paste Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one. Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved. Praise for How Democracies Die “What we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of affairs. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies, offer just that.”—The Washington Post “Where Levitsky and Ziblatt make their mark is in weaving together political science and historical analysis of both domestic and international democratic crises; in doing so, they expand the conversation beyond Trump and before him, to other countries and to the deep structure of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein, Vox “If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on our politics, no contest.”—Michael Morrell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (via Twitter) “A smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world, and in ways that are perfectly legal.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN
  how democracies die book: How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt, 2018 Fateful alliances -- Gatekeeping in America -- The great Republican abdication -- Subverting democracy -- The guardrails of democracy -- The unwritten rules of American politics -- The unraveling -- Trump against the guardrails -- Saving democracy
  how democracies die book: How Democracy Ends David Runciman, 2018-06-05 How will democracy end? And what will replace it? A preeminent political scientist examines the past, present, and future of an endangered political philosophy Since the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperiled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get? In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated twentieth-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkable -- a twenty-first-century vision of the end of democracy, and whether its collapse might allow us to move forward to something better. A provocative book by a major political philosopher, How Democracy Ends asks the most trenchant questions that underlie the disturbing patterns of our contemporary political life.
  how democracies die book: Democracies Divided Thomas Carothers, Andrew O'Donohue, 2019-09-24 “A must-read for anyone concerned about the fate of contemporary democracies.”—Steven Levitsky, co-author of How Democracies Die 2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Why divisions have deepened and what can be done to heal them As one part of the global democratic recession, severe political polarization is increasingly afflicting old and new democracies alike, producing the erosion of democratic norms and rising societal anger. This volume is the first book-length comparative analysis of this troubling global phenomenon, offering in-depth case studies of countries as wide-ranging and important as Brazil, India, Kenya, Poland, Turkey, and the United States. The case study authors are a diverse group of country and regional experts, each with deep local knowledge and experience. Democracies Divided identifies and examines the fissures that are dividing societies and the factors bringing polarization to a boil. In nearly every case under study, political entrepreneurs have exploited and exacerbated long-simmering divisions for their own purposes—in the process undermining the prospects for democratic consensus and productive governance. But this book is not simply a diagnosis of what has gone wrong. Each case study discusses actions that concerned citizens and organizations are taking to counter polarizing forces, whether through reforms to political parties, institutions, or the media. The book’s editors distill from the case studies a range of possible ways for restoring consensus and defeating polarization in the world’s democracies. Timely, rigorous, and accessible, this book is of compelling interest to civic activists, political actors, scholars, and ordinary citizens in societies beset by increasingly rancorous partisanship.
  how democracies die book: To Kill A Democracy Debasish Roy Chowdhury, John Keane, 2021-06-24 India is heralded as the world's largest democracy. Yet, there is now growing alarm about its democratic health. To Kill a Democracy gets to the heart of the matter. Combining poignant life stories with sharp scholarly insight, it rejects the belief that India was once a beacon of democracy but is now being ruined by the destructive forces of Modi-style populism. The book details the much deeper historical roots of the present-day assaults on civil liberties and democratic institutions. Democracy, the authors also argue, is much more than elections and the separation of powers. It is a whole way of life lived in dignity, and that is why they pay special attention to the decaying social foundations of Indian democracy. In compelling fashion, the book describes daily struggles for survival and explains how lived social injustices and unfreedoms rob Indian elections of their meaning, while at the same time feeding the decadence and iron-fisted rule of its governing institutions. Much more than a book about India, To Kill A Democracy argues that what is happening in the country is globally important, and not just because every third person living in a democracy is an Indian. It shows that when democracies rack and ruin their social foundations, they don't just kill off the spirit and substance of democracy. They lay the foundations for despotism.
  how democracies die book: One Nation After Trump E. J. Dionne, Norman J. Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann, 2017-09-19 THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER A call to action from three of Washington's premier political scholar-journalists, One Nation After Trump offers the definitive work on the threat posed by the Trump presidency and how to counter it. American democracy was never supposed to give the nation a president like Donald Trump. We have never had a president who gave rise to such widespread alarm about his lack of commitment to the institutions of self-government, to the norms democracy requires, and to the need for basic knowledge about how government works. We have never had a president who raises profound questions about his basic competence and his psychological capacity to take on the most challenging political office in the world. Yet if Trump is both a threat to our democracy and a product of its weaknesses, the citizen activism he has inspired is the antidote. The reaction to the crisis created by Trump’s presidency can provide the foundation for an era of democratic renewal and vindicate our long experiment in self-rule. The award-winning authors of One Nation After Trump explain Trump’s rise and the danger his administration poses to our free institutions. They also offer encouragement to the millions of Americans now experiencing a new sense of citizenship and engagement and argue that our nation needs a unifying alternative to Trump’s dark and divisive brand of politics—an alternative rooted in a New Economy, a New Patriotism, a New Civil Society, and a New Democracy. One Nation After Trump is the essential book for our era, an unsparing assessment of the perils facing the United States and an inspiring roadmap for how we can reclaim the future.
  how democracies die book: Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy Daniel Ziblatt, 2017-04-18 How do democracies form and what makes them die? Daniel Ziblatt revisits this timely and classic question in a wide-ranging historical narrative that traces the evolution of modern political democracy in Europe from its modest beginnings in 1830s Britain to Adolf Hitler's 1933 seizure of power in Weimar Germany. Based on rich historical and quantitative evidence, the book offers a major reinterpretation of European history and the question of how stable political democracy is achieved. The barriers to inclusive political rule, Ziblatt finds, were not inevitably overcome by unstoppable tides of socioeconomic change, a simple triumph of a growing middle class, or even by working class collective action. Instead, political democracy's fate surprisingly hinged on how conservative political parties - the historical defenders of power, wealth, and privilege - recast themselves and coped with the rise of their own radical right. With striking modern parallels, the book has vital implications for today's new and old democracies under siege.
  how democracies die book: The Life and Death of Democracy John Keane, 2009-06-01 John Keane's The Life and Death of Democracy will inspire and shock its readers. Presenting the first grand history of democracy for well over a century, it poses along the way some tough and timely questions: can we really be sure that democracy had its origins in ancient Greece? How did democratic ideals and institutions come to have the shape they do today? Given all the recent fanfare about democracy promotion, why are many people now gripped by the feeling that a bad moon is rising over all the world's democracies? Do they indeed have a future? Or is perhaps democracy fated to melt away, along with our polar ice caps? The work of one of Britain's leading political writers, this is no mere antiquarian history. Stylishly written, this superb book confronts its readers with an entirely fresh and irreverent look at the past, present and future of democracy. It unearths the beginnings of such precious institutions and ideals as government by public assembly, votes for women, the secret ballot, trial by jury and press freedom. It tracks the changing, hotly disputed meanings of democracy and describes quite a few of the extraordinary characters, many of them long forgotten, who dedicated their lives to building or defending democracy. And it explains why democracy is still potentially the best form of government on earth -- and why democracies everywhere are sleepwalking their way into deep trouble.
  how democracies die book: Twilight of Democracy Anne Applebaum, 2020-07-21 A finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize One of Back Obama's Favourite Books of the Year A Pulitzer Prize–winning historian explains, with electrifying clarity, why elites in democracies around the world are turning toward nationalism and authoritarianism. From the United States and Britain to continental Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege, while authoritarianism is on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum, an award-winning historian of Soviet atrocities who was one of the first American journalists to raise an alarm about antidemocratic trends in the West, explains the lure of nationalism and autocracy. In this captivating essay, she contends that political systems with radically simple beliefs are inherently appealing, especially when they benefit the loyal to the exclusion of everyone else. Despotic leaders do not rule alone; they rely on political allies, bureaucrats, and media figures to pave their way and support their rule. The authoritarian and nationalist parties that have arisen within modern democracies offer new paths to wealth or power for their adherents. Applebaum describes many of the new advocates of illiberalism in countries around the world, showing how they use conspiracy theory, political polarization, social media, and even nostalgia to change their societies. Elegantly written and urgently argued, Twilight of Democracy is a brilliant dissection of a world-shaking shift and a stirring glimpse of the road back to democratic values.
  how democracies die book: How Fascism Works Jason Stanley, 2018-09-04 “No single book is as relevant to the present moment.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen “One of the defining books of the decade.”—Elizabeth Hinton, author of From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • With a new preface • Fascist politics are running rampant in America today—and spreading around the world. A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history. As the child of refugees of World War II Europe and a renowned philosopher and scholar of propaganda, Jason Stanley has a deep understanding of how democratic societies can be vulnerable to fascism: Nations don’t have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism’s roots have been present in the United States for more than a century. Alarmed by the pervasive rise of fascist tactics both at home and around the globe, Stanley focuses here on the structures that unite them, laying out and analyzing the ten pillars of fascist politics—the language and beliefs that separate people into an “us” and a “them.” He knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations. He makes clear the immense danger of underestimating the cumulative power of these tactics, which include exploiting a mythic version of a nation’s past; propaganda that twists the language of democratic ideals against themselves; anti-intellectualism directed against universities and experts; law and order politics predicated on the assumption that members of minority groups are criminals; and fierce attacks on labor groups and welfare. These mechanisms all build on one another, creating and reinforcing divisions and shaping a society vulnerable to the appeals of authoritarian leadership. By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics—charged by rhetoric and myth—can quickly become policy and reality. Only by recognizing fascists politics, he argues, may we resist its most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals. “With unsettling insight and disturbing clarity, How Fascism Works is an essential guidebook to our current national dilemma of democracy vs. authoritarianism.”—William Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope
  how democracies die book: Death by a Thousand Cuts Matt Qvortrup, 2021-06-21 Putting the current crisis of democracy into historical perspective, Death by a Thousand Cuts chronicles how would-be despots, dictators, and outright tyrants have finessed the techniques of killing democracies earlier in history, in the 20th Century, and how today’s autocrats increasingly continue to do so in the 21st. It shows how autocratic government becomes a kleptocracy, sustained only to enrich the ruler and his immediate family. But the book also addresses the problems of being a dictator and considers if dictatorships are successful in delivering public policies, and finally, how autocracies break down. We tend to think of democratic breakdowns as dramatic events, such as General Pinochet’s violent coup in Chile, or Generalissimo Franco’s overthrow of the Spanish Republic. But this is not how democracies tend to die – only five percent of democracies end like this. Most often, popular government is brought down gradually; almost imperceptibly. Based in part on Professor Qvortrup’s BBC Programme Death by a Thousand Cuts (Radio-4, 2019), the book shows how complacency is the greatest danger for the survival of government by the people. Recently democratically elected politicians have used crises as a pretext for dismantling democracy. They follow a pattern we have seen in all democracies since the dawn of civilisation. The methods used by Octavian in the dying days of the Roman Republic were almost identical to those used by Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán in 2020. And, sadly, there are no signs that the current malaise will go away. Death by a Thousand Cuts adds substance to a much-discussed topic: the threat to democracy. It provides evidence and historical context like no other book on the market. Written in an accessible style with vignettes as well as new empirical data, the books promises to be the defining book on the topic. This book will help readers who are concerned about the longevity of democracy understand when and why democracy is in danger of collapsing, and alert them to the warning signs of its demise.
  how democracies die book: How to Save a Constitutional Democracy Tom Ginsburg, Aziz Z. Huq, 2018-10-05 Democracies are in danger. Around the world, a rising wave of populist leaders threatens to erode the core structures of democratic self-rule. In the United States, the tenure of Donald Trump has seemed decisive turning point for many. What kind of president intimidates jurors, calls the news media the “enemy of the American people,” and seeks foreign assistance investigating domestic political rivals? Whatever one thinks of President Trump, many think the Constitution will safeguard us from lasting damage. But is that assumption justified? How to Save a Constitutional Democracy mounts an urgent argument that we can no longer afford to be complacent. Drawing on a rich array of other countries’ experiences with democratic backsliding, Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Z. Huq show how constitutional rules can both hinder and hasten the decline of democratic institutions. The checks and balances of the federal government, a robust civil society and media, and individual rights—such as those enshrined in the First Amendment—often fail as bulwarks against democratic decline. The sobering reality for the United States, Ginsburg and Huq contend, is that the Constitution’s design makes democratic erosion more, not less, likely. Its structural rigidity has had unforeseen consequence—leaving the presidency weakly regulated and empowering the Supreme Court conjure up doctrines that ultimately facilitate rather than inhibit rights violations. Even the bright spots in the Constitution—the First Amendment, for example—may have perverse consequences in the hands of a deft communicator who can degrade the public sphere by wielding hateful language banned in many other democracies. We—and the rest of the world—can do better. The authors conclude by laying out practical steps for how laws and constitutional design can play a more positive role in managing the risk of democratic decline.
  how democracies die book: Structuring the State Daniel Ziblatt, 2006 This study explores the following puzzle: Upon national unification, why was Germany formed as a federal state and Italy a unitary state? Ziblatt's answer to this question will be of interest to scholars of international relations, comparative politics, political development, and political and economic history.
  how democracies die book: The People Vs. Democracy Yascha Mounk, 2018-03-05 Uiteenzetting over de opkomst van het populisme en het gevaar daarvan voor de democratie.
  how democracies die book: The Decline and Rise of Democracy David Stasavage, 2020-06-02 One of the most important books on political regimes written in a generation.—Steven Levitsky, New York Times–bestselling author of How Democracies Die A new understanding of how and why early democracy took hold, how modern democracy evolved, and what this history teaches us about the future Historical accounts of democracy’s rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer—democratic practices were present in many places, at many other times, from the Americas before European conquest, to ancient Mesopotamia, to precolonial Africa. Delving into the prevalence of early democracy throughout the world, David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished—and when and why they declined—can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but also about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future. Drawing from examples spanning several millennia, Stasavage first considers why states developed either democratic or autocratic styles of governance and argues that early democracy tended to develop in small places with a weak state and, counterintuitively, simple technologies. When central state institutions (such as a tax bureaucracy) were absent—as in medieval Europe—rulers needed consent from their populace to govern. When central institutions were strong—as in China or the Middle East—consent was less necessary and autocracy more likely. He then explores the transition from early to modern democracy, which first took shape in England and then the United States, illustrating that modern democracy arose as an effort to combine popular control with a strong state over a large territory. Democracy has been an experiment that has unfolded over time and across the world—and its transformation is ongoing. Amidst rising democratic anxieties, The Decline and Rise of Democracy widens the historical lens on the growth of political institutions and offers surprising lessons for all who care about governance.
  how democracies die book: The Death of Democracy Benjamin Carter Hett, 2018-04-03 A riveting account of how the Nazi Party came to power and how the failures of the Weimar Republic and the shortsightedness of German politicians allowed it to happen. Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In The Death of Democracy, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time. To say that Hitler was elected is too simple. He would never have come to power if Germany’s leading politicians had not responded to a spate of populist insurgencies by trying to co-opt him, a strategy that backed them into a corner from which the only way out was to bring the Nazis in. Hett lays bare the misguided confidence of conservative politicians who believed that Hitler and his followers would willingly support them, not recognizing that their efforts to use the Nazis actually played into Hitler’s hands. They had willingly given him the tools to turn Germany into a vicious dictatorship. Benjamin Carter Hett is a leading scholar of twentieth-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of these feckless politicians show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it. He offers a powerful lesson for today, when democracy once again finds itself embattled and the siren song of strongmen sounds ever louder.
  how democracies die book: How Civil Wars Start Barbara F. Walter, 2023-04-25 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A leading political scientist examines the dramatic rise in violent extremism around the globe and sounds the alarm on the increasing likelihood of a second civil war in the United States “Required reading for anyone invested in preserving our 246-year experiment in self-government.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) WINNER OF THE GLOBAL POLICY INSTITUTE AWARD • THE SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Financial Times, The Times (UK), Esquire, Prospect (UK) Political violence rips apart several towns in southwest Texas. A far-right militia plots to kidnap the governor of Michigan and try her for treason. An armed mob of Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists storms the U.S. Capitol. Are these isolated incidents? Or is this the start of something bigger? Barbara F. Walter has spent her career studying civil conflict in places like Iraq, Ukraine, and Sri Lanka, but now she has become increasingly worried about her own country. Perhaps surprisingly, both autocracies and healthy democracies are largely immune from civil war; it’s the countries in the middle ground that are most vulnerable. And this is where more and more countries, including the United States, are finding themselves today. Over the last two decades, the number of active civil wars around the world has almost doubled. Walter reveals the warning signs—where wars tend to start, who initiates them, what triggers them—and why some countries tip over into conflict while others remain stable. Drawing on the latest international research and lessons from over twenty countries, Walter identifies the crucial risk factors, from democratic backsliding to factionalization and the politics of resentment. A civil war today won’t look like America in the 1860s, Russia in the 1920s, or Spain in the 1930s. It will begin with sporadic acts of violence and terror, accelerated by social media. It will sneak up on us and leave us wondering how we could have been so blind. In this urgent and insightful book, Walter redefines civil war for a new age, providing the framework we need to confront the danger we now face—and the knowledge to stop it before it’s too late.
  how democracies die book: The Road to Unfreedom Timothy Snyder, 2019-04-09 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of On Tyranny comes a stunning new chronicle of the rise of authoritarianism from Russia to Europe and America. “A brilliant analysis of our time.”—Karl Ove Knausgaard, The New Yorker With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy seemed final. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. This faith was misplaced. Authoritarianism returned to Russia, as Vladimir Putin found fascist ideas that could be used to justify rule by the wealthy. In the 2010s, it has spread from east to west, aided by Russian warfare in Ukraine and cyberwar in Europe and the United States. Russia found allies among nationalists, oligarchs, and radicals everywhere, and its drive to dissolve Western institutions, states, and values found resonance within the West itself. The rise of populism, the British vote against the EU, and the election of Donald Trump were all Russian goals, but their achievement reveals the vulnerability of Western societies. In this forceful and unsparing work of contemporary history, based on vast research as well as personal reporting, Snyder goes beyond the headlines to expose the true nature of the threat to democracy and law. To understand the challenge is to see, and perhaps renew, the fundamental political virtues offered by tradition and demanded by the future. By revealing the stark choices before us--between equality or oligarchy, individuality or totality, truth and falsehood--Snyder restores our understanding of the basis of our way of life, offering a way forward in a time of terrible uncertainty.
  how democracies die book: The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies Diana Kapiszewski, Steven Levitsky, Deborah J. Yashar, 2021-02-04 This volume analyzes how enduring democracy amid longstanding inequality engendered inclusionary reform in contemporary Latin America.
  how democracies die book: Ill Winds Larry Diamond, 2019-06-11 *Shortlisted for the 2020 Arthur Ross Book Award* From America’s leading scholar of democracy, a personal, passionate call to action against the rising authoritarianism that challenges our world order—and the very value of liberty Larry Diamond has made it his life's work to secure democracy's future by understanding its past and by advising dissidents fighting autocracy around the world. Deeply attuned to the cycles of democratic expansion and decay that determine the fates of nations, he watched with mounting unease as illiberal rulers rose in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, the Philippines, and beyond, while China and Russia grew increasingly bold and bullying. Then, with Trump's election at home, the global retreat from freedom spread from democracy's margins to its heart. Ill Winds' core argument is stark: the defense and advancement of democratic ideals relies on U.S. global leadership. If we do not reclaim our traditional place as the keystone of democracy, today's authoritarian swell could become a tsunami, providing an opening for Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and their admirers to turn the twenty-first century into a dark time of despotism. We are at a hinge in history, between a new era of tyranny and an age of democratic renewal. Free governments can defend their values; free citizens can exercise their rights. We can make the internet safe for liberal democracy, exploit the soft, kleptocratic underbelly of dictatorships, and revive America's degraded democracy. Ill Winds offers concrete, deeply informed suggestions to fight polarization, reduce the influence of money in politics, and make every vote count. In 2020, freedom's last line of defense still remains We the people.
  how democracies die book: Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality Danielle Allen, 2014-06-23 “A tour de force.... No one has ever written a book on the Declaration quite like this one.” —Gordon Wood, New York Review of Books Winner of the Zócalo Book Prize Winner of the Society of American Historians’ Francis Parkman Prize Winner of the Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Prize (Nonfiction) Finalist for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Hurston Wright Legacy Award Shortlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Shortlisted for the Phi Beta Kappa Society’s Ralph Waldo Emerson Award A New York Times Book Review Editors Choice Selection Featured on the front page of the New York Times, Our Declaration is already regarded as a seminal work that reinterprets the promise of American democracy through our founding text. Combining a personal account of teaching the Declaration with a vivid evocation of the colonial world between 1774 and 1777, Allen, a political philosopher renowned for her work on justice and citizenship reveals our nation’s founding text to be an animating force that not only changed the world more than two-hundred years ago, but also still can. Challenging conventional wisdom, she boldly makes the case that the Declaration is a document as much about political equality as about individual liberty. Beautifully illustrated throughout, Our Declaration is an “uncommonly elegant, incisive, and often poetic primer on America’s cardinal text” (David M. Kennedy).
  how democracies die book: Code Red E. J. Dionne, 2020-02-04 An exquisitely timed book ... Code Red is a worthwhile exploration of the shared goals (and shared enemies) that unite moderates and progressives. But more than that, it is a sharp reminder that the common ground on which Dionne built his career has been badly eroded, with little prospect that it will soon be restored.” —The New York Times Book Review New York Times bestselling author and Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne, Jr. sounds the alarm in Code Red, calling for an alliance between progressives and moderates to seize the moment and restore hope to America’s future for the 2020 presidential election. Will progressives and moderates feud while America burns? Or will these natural allies take advantage of the greatest opportunity since the New Deal Era to strengthen American democracy, foster social justice, and turn back the threats of the Trump Era? The United States stands at a crossroads. Broad and principled opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency has drawn millions of previously disengaged citizens to the public square and to the ballot boxes. This inspired and growing activism for social and political change hasn’t been seen since the days of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies and the Progressive and Civil Rights movements. But if progressives and moderates are unable—and unwilling—to overcome their differences, they could not only enable Trump to prevail again but also squander an occasion for launching a new era of reform. In Code Red, award-winning journalist E. J. Dionne, Jr., calls for a shared commitment to decency and a politics focused on freedom, fairness, and the future, encouraging progressives and moderates to explore common ground and expand the unity that brought about Democrat victories in the 2018 elections. He offers a unifying model for furthering progress with a Politics of Remedy, Dignity, and More: one that solves problems, resolve disputes, and moves forward; that sits at the heart of the demands for justice by both long-marginalized and recently-displaced groups; and that posits a positive future for Americans with more covered by health insurance, more with decent wages, more with good schools, more security from gun violence, more action to roll back climate change. Breaking through the partisan noise and cutting against conventional wisdom to provide a realistic look at political possibilities, Dionne offers a strategy for progressives and moderates to think more clearly and accept the responsibilities that history now imposes on them. Because at this point in our national story, change can’t wait.
  how democracies die book: The Russia Hoax Gregg Jarrett, 2019-02-12 Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett reveals the real story behind Hillary Clinton’s deep state collaborators in government and exposes their nefarious actions during and after the 2016 election. The Russia Hoax reveals how persons within the FBI and Barack Obama’s Justice Department worked improperly to help elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. When this suspected effort failed, those same people appear to have pursued a contrived investigation of President Trump in an attempt to undo the election results and remove him as president. The evidence suggests that partisans within the FBI and the Department of Justice, driven by personal animus and a misplaced sense of political righteousness, surreptitiously acted to subvert electoral democracy in our country. The book will examine: How did Hillary Clinton manage to escape prosecution despite compelling evidence she violated the law? Did Peter Strzok, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Loretta Lynch, and others obstruct justice by protecting Clinton? Why was there never a legitimate criminal investigation of Clinton in the Uranium One case? Are the text messages exchanged between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page evidence of a concerted effort to undermine the electoral process? Was there ever any real evidence of collusion between Trump and the Russians? Did Trump obstruct justice in the firing of Comey or was he legally exercising his constitutional authority? Did the FBI and DOJ improperly use a discredited dossier about Trump to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on Trump associates? Should Muller have disqualified himself under the special counsel law based on glaring conflicts of interest? Was fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn unfairly charged with making a false statement? With insightful analysis and a fact-filled narrative, The Russia Hoax delves deeply into Democrat wrongdoing.
  how democracies die book: Rethinking Incarceration Dominique DuBois Gilliard, 2018-03-02 The United States has more people locked up in jails, prisons, and detention centers than any other country in the history of the world. Exploring the history and foundations of mass incarceration, Dominique Gilliard examines Christianity’s role in its evolution and expansion, assessing justice in light of Scripture, and showing how Christians can pursue justice that restores and reconciles.
  how democracies die book: The Great American Delusion Patrick Davies, 2020-10-27 Something has been going badly wrong in America. But what is really happening, why, and what does it mean? Could the US itself now be the greatest threat to the future of the West? What does Joe Biden need to do to get America back on track? In this fascinating account of America today, Patrick Davies, former British Deputy Ambassador to the US, sets out to understand how America, blinded by myths of its own exceptionalism, has failed to tackle serious political, social and economic problems which are exacerbating divisions in its society, poisoning its politics and ultimately fuelling America’s decline. The Great American Delusion asks whether, with global power shifting eastwards, the US can save itself and, with it, the Western world before it’s too late. Patrick Davies worked alongside the Obama and Trump White Houses for five years. He has more than 30 years’ experience of America, its people and its politics.
  how democracies die book: Crises of Democracy Adam Przeworski, 2019-09-26 Examines the economic, social, cultural, as well as purely political threats to democracy in the light of current knowledge.
  how democracies die book: Democracy in Crisis Robert Goodrich, 2022-12-07 Democracy in Crisis explores one of the world's greatest failures of democracy in Germany during the so-called Weimar Republic, 1919–33—a failure that led to the Third Reich. For more than a decade after World War I, liberalism, nationalism, conservatism, social democracy, Christian democracy, communism, fascism, and every variant of these movements struggled for power. Although Germany's constitutional framework boldly enshrined liberal democratic values, the political spectrum was so broad and fully represented that a stable parliamentary majority required constant negotiations. The compromises that were made subsequently alienated citizens, who were embittered by national humiliation in the war and the ensuing treaty and struggling to survive economic turmoil and rapidly changing cultural norms. As positions hardened, the door was opened to radical alternatives. In this game, students, as delegates of the Reichstag (parliament), must contend with intense parliamentary wrangling, uncontrollable world events, street fights, assassinations, and insurrections. The game begins in late 1929, just after the U.S. stock market crash, as the Reichstag deliberates the Young Plan (a revision to the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I). Students belonging to various political parties must debate these matters and more as the combination of economic stress, political gridlock, and foreign pressure turn Germany into a volcano on the verge of eruption.
  how democracies die book: Why Nations Fail Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson, 2013-09-17 Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.
  how democracies die book: End of History and the Last Man Francis Fukuyama, 2006-03-01 Ever since its first publication in 1992, the New York Times bestselling The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Profoundly realistic and important...supremely timely and cogent...the first book to fully fathom the depth and range of the changes now sweeping through the world. —The Washington Post Book World Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.
  how democracies die book: Opposing Democracy in the Digital Age Aim Sinpeng, 2021-03-02 Opposing Democracy in the Digital Age is about why ordinary people in a democratizing state oppose democracy and how they leverage both traditional and social media to do so. Aim Sinpeng focuses on the people behind popular, large-scale antidemocratic movements that helped bring down democracy in 2006 and 2014 in Thailand. The yellow shirts (PAD—People’s Alliance for Democracy) that are the focus of the book are antidemocratic movements grown out of democratic periods in Thailand, but became the catalyst for the country’s democratic breakdown. Why, when, and how supporters of these movements mobilize offline and online to bring down democracy are some of the key questions that Sinpeng answers. While the book primarily uses a qualitative methodological approach, it also uses several quantitative tools to analyze social media data in the later chapters. This is one of few studies in the field of regime transition that focuses on antidemocratic mobilization and takes the role of social media seriously.
  how democracies die book: The Federalist Papers Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, 2018-08-20 Classic Books Library presents this brand new edition of “The Federalist Papers”, a collection of separate essays and articles compiled in 1788 by Alexander Hamilton. Following the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, the governing doctrines and policies of the States lacked cohesion. “The Federalist”, as it was previously known, was constructed by American statesman Alexander Hamilton, and was intended to catalyse the ratification of the United States Constitution. Hamilton recruited fellow statesmen James Madison Jr., and John Jay to write papers for the compendium, and the three are known as some of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755–1804) was an American lawyer, journalist and highly influential government official. He also served as a Senior Officer in the Army between 1799-1800 and founded the Federalist Party, the system that governed the nation’s finances. His contributions to the Constitution and leadership made a significant and lasting impact on the early development of the nation of the United States.
  how democracies die book: Challenger Deep Neal Shusterman, 2015-04-21 National Book Award * Golden Kite Award Winner * Six Starred Reviews A captivating novel about mental illness that lingers long beyond the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force by New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman. Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench. Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior. Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence to document the journey with images. Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head. Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny. Caden Bosch is torn. Challenger Deep is a deeply powerful and personal novel from one of today's most admired writers for teens. Laurie Halse Anderson, award-winning author of Speak, calls Challenger Deep a brilliant journey across the dark sea of the mind; frightening, sensitive, and powerful. Simply extraordinary.
  how democracies die book: They Don't Represent Us Lawrence Lessig, 2019-11-05 WITH A NEW FOREWORD ABOUT THE 2020 ELECTION “This urgent book offers not only a clear-eyed explanation of the forces that broke our politics, but a thoughtful and, yes, patriotic vision of how we create a government that’s truly by and for the people.”—DAVID DALEY, bestselling author of Ratf**ked and Unrigged In the vein of On Tyranny and How Democracies Die, the bestselling author of Republic, Lost argues with insight and urgency that our democracy no longer represents us and shows that reform is both necessary and possible. America’s democracy is in crisis. Along many dimensions, a single flaw—unrepresentativeness—has detached our government from the people. And as a people, our fractured partisanship and ignorance on critical issues drive our leaders to stake out ever more extreme positions. In They Don’t Represent Us, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig charts the way in which the fundamental institutions of our democracy, including our media, respond to narrow interests rather than to the needs and wishes of the nation’s citizenry. But the blame does not only lie with “them”—Washington’s politicians and power brokers, Lessig argues. The problem is also “us.” “We the people” are increasingly uninformed about the issues, while ubiquitous political polling exacerbates the problem, reflecting and normalizing our ignorance and feeding it back into the system as representative of our will. What we need, Lessig contends, is a series of reforms, from governmental institutions to the public itself, including: A move immediately to public campaign funding, leading to more representative candidates A reformed Electoral College, that gives the President a reason to represent America as a whole A federal standard to end partisan gerrymandering in the states A radically reformed Senate A federal penalty on states that don’t secure to their people an equal freedom to vote Institutions that empower the people to speak in an informed and deliberative way A soul-searching and incisive examination of our failing political culture, this nonpartisan call to arms speaks to every citizen, offering a far-reaching platform for reform that could save our democracy and make it work for all of us.
  how democracies die book: Four Threats Suzanne Mettler, Robert C. Lieberman, 2020-08-11 An urgent, historically-grounded take on the four major factors that undermine American democracy, and what we can do to address them. While many Americans despair of the current state of U.S. politics, most assume that our system of government and democracy itself are invulnerable to decay. Yet when we examine the past, we find that to the contrary, the United States has undergone repeated crises of democracy, from the earliest days of the republic to the present. In The Four Threats, Robert C. Lieberman and Suzanne Mettler explore five historical episodes when democracy in the United States was under siege: the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. These episodes risked profound, even fatal, damage to the American democratic experiment, and on occasion antidemocratic forces have prevailed. From this history, four distinct characteristics of democratic disruption emerge. Political polarization, racism and nativism, economic inequality, and excessive executive power – alone or in combination – have threatened the survival of the republic, but it has survived, so far. What is unique, and alarming, about the present moment is that all four conditions are present in American politics today. This formidable convergence marks the contemporary era as an especially grave moment for democracy in the United States. But history provides a valuable repository from which contemporary Americans can draw lessons about how democracy was eventually strengthened — or in some cases weakened — in the past. By revisiting how earlier generations of Americans faced threats to the principles enshrined in the Constitution, we can see the promise and the peril that have led us to the present and chart a path toward repairing our civic fabric and renewing democracy.
  how democracies die book: Democracy Rules Jan-Werner Müller, 2021-07-06 A much-anticipated guide to saving democracy, from one of our most essential political thinkers. Everyone knows that democracy is in trouble, but do we know what democracy actually is? Jan-Werner Müller, author of the widely translated and acclaimed What Is Populism?, takes us back to basics in Democracy Rules. In this short, elegant volume, he explains how democracy is founded not just on liberty and equality, but also on uncertainty. The latter will sound unattractive at a time when the pandemic has created unbearable uncertainty for so many. But it is crucial for ensuring democracy’s dynamic and creative character, which remains one of its signal advantages over authoritarian alternatives that seek to render politics (and individual citizens) completely predictable. Müller shows that we need to re-invigorate the intermediary institutions that have been deemed essential for democracy’s success ever since the nineteenth century: political parties and free media. Contrary to conventional wisdom, these are not spent forces in a supposed age of post-party populist leadership and post-truth. Müller suggests concretely how democracy’s critical infrastructure of intermediary institutions could be renovated, re-empowering citizens while also preserving a place for professionals such as journalists and judges. These institutions are also indispensable for negotiating a democratic social contract that reverses the secession of plutocrats and the poorest from a common political world.
  how democracies die book: What Were We Thinking Carlos Lozada, 2020-10-06 The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book critic uses the books of the Trump era to argue that our response to this presidency reflects the same failures of imagination that made it possible. As a book critic for The Washington Post, Carlos Lozada has read some 150 volumes claiming to diagnose why Trump was elected and what his presidency reveals about our nation. Many of these, he’s found, are more defensive than incisive, more righteous than right. In What Were We Thinking, Lozada uses these books to tell the story of how we understand ourselves in the Trump era, using as his main characters the political ideas and debates at play in America today. He dissects works on the white working class like Hillbilly Elegy; manifestos from the anti-Trump resistance like On Tyranny and No Is Not Enough; books on race, gender, and identity like How to Be an Antiracist and Good and Mad; polemics on the future of the conservative movement like The Corrosion of Conservatism; and of course plenty of books about Trump himself. Lozada’s argument is provocative: that many of these books—whether written by liberals or conservatives, activists or academics, Trump’s true believers or his harshest critics—are vulnerable to the same blind spots, resentments, and failures that gave us his presidency. But Lozada also highlights the books that succeed in illuminating how America is changing in the 21st century. What Were We Thinking is an intellectual history of the Trump era in real time, helping us transcend the battles of the moment and see ourselves for who we really are.
  how democracies die book: Why We're Polarized Ezra Klein, 2020-01-28 ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022 One of Bill Gates’s “5 books to read this summer,” this New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller shows us that America’s political system isn’t broken. The truth is scarier: it’s working exactly as designed. In this “superbly researched” (The Washington Post) and timely book, journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us—and how we are polarizing it—with disastrous results. “The American political system—which includes everyone from voters to journalists to the president—is full of rational actors making rational decisions given the incentives they face,” writes political analyst Ezra Klein. “We are a collection of functional parts whose efforts combine into a dysfunctional whole.” “A thoughtful, clear and persuasive analysis” (The New York Times Book Review), Why We’re Polarized reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics. Over the past fifty years in America, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together. Klein shows how and why American politics polarized around identity in the 20th century, and what that polarization did to the way we see the world and one another. And he traces the feedback loops between polarized political identities and polarized political institutions that are driving our system toward crisis. “Well worth reading” (New York magazine), this is an “eye-opening” (O, The Oprah Magazine) book that will change how you look at politics—and perhaps at yourself.
  how democracies die book: How to Lose a Country Ece Temelkuran, 2024-10-08 “Essential.” —Margaret Atwood An urgent call to action and a field guide to spotting the insidious patterns and mechanisms of the populist wave sweeping the globe from an award-winning journalist and acclaimed political thinker. How to Lose a Country is a warning to the world that populism and nationalism don’t march fully-formed into government; they creep. Award-winning author and journalist Ece Temelkuran identifies the early warning signs of this phenomenon, sprouting up across the world from Eastern Europe to South America, in order to arm the reader with the tools to recognise it and take action. Weaving memoir, history and clear-sighted argument, Temelkuran proposes alternative answers to the pressing—and too often paralysing—political questions of our time. How to Lose a Country is an exploration of the insidious ideas at the core of these movements and an urgent, eloquent defence of democracy. This 2024 edition includes a new foreword by the author.
  how democracies die book: Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times Nancy G. Bermeo, 2020-06-16 For generations, influential thinkers--often citing the tragic polarization that took place during Germany's Great Depression--have suspected that people's loyalty to democratic institutions erodes under pressure and that citizens gravitate toward antidemocratic extremes in times of political and economic crisis. But do people really defect from democracy when times get tough? Do ordinary people play a leading role in the collapse of popular government? Based on extensive research, this book overturns the common wisdom. It shows that the German experience was exceptional, that people's affinity for particular political positions are surprisingly stable, and that what is often labeled polarization is the result not of vote switching but of such factors as expansion of the franchise, elite defections, and the mobilization of new voters. Democratic collapses are caused less by changes in popular preferences than by the actions of political elites who polarize themselves and mistake the actions of a few for the preferences of the many. These conclusions are drawn from the study of twenty cases, including every democracy that collapsed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in interwar Europe, every South American democracy that fell to the Right after the Cuban Revolution, and three democracies that avoided breakdown despite serious economic and political challenges. Unique in its historical and regional scope, this book offers unsettling but important lessons about civil society and regime change--and about the paths to democratic consolidation today.
  how democracies die book: Revolution and Dictatorship Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way, 2024-10-29 Why the world’s most resilient dictatorships are products of violent revolution Revolution and Dictatorship explores why dictatorships born of social revolution—such as those in China, Cuba, Iran, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam—are extraordinarily durable, even in the face of economic crisis, large-scale policy failure, mass discontent, and intense external pressure. Few other modern autocracies have survived in the face of such extreme challenges. Drawing on comparative historical analysis, Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way argue that radical efforts to transform the social and geopolitical order trigger intense counterrevolutionary conflict, which initially threatens regime survival, but ultimately fosters the unity and state-building that supports authoritarianism. Although most revolutionary governments begin weak, they challenge powerful domestic and foreign actors, often bringing about civil or external wars. These counterrevolutionary wars pose a threat that can destroy new regimes, as in the cases of Afghanistan and Cambodia. Among regimes that survive, however, prolonged conflicts give rise to a cohesive ruling elite and a powerful and loyal coercive apparatus. This leads to the downfall of rival organizations and alternative centers of power, such as armies, churches, monarchies, and landowners, and helps to inoculate revolutionary regimes against elite defection, military coups, and mass protest—three principal sources of authoritarian breakdown. Looking at a range of revolutionary and nonrevolutionary regimes from across the globe, Revolution and Dictatorship shows why governments that emerge from violent conflict endure.
How Democracies Die - Internet Archive
This is how democracies now die. Blatant dictatorship—in the form of fascism, communism, or military rule—has disappeared across much of the world. Military coups and other violent …

How Democracies Die - PenguinRandomHouse.com
In How Democracies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt analyze the demise of Latin American and European democracies throughout the twentieth century, as well as American political crises, …

How Democracies Die What History Reveals About Our Future
Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . ... How …

A Discussion of Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s How …
These questions serve as the motivation for How Democracies Die, written by a pair of comparative political scientists, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, who are experts on the rise …

How Democracies Die
In How Democracies Die, authors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt use a comparative approach to determine factors that have weakened democracy in America and created deep

BOOK REVIEW: How Democracies Die, by Daniel Ziblatt and …
In their book How Democracies Die, Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky argue that growing partisan polarization, exacerbated by President Donald Trump’s administration, is weakening …

How Democracies Die. Understanding the Insurrection of …
The book focuses on situations where authoritarian personalities win the top position through election and then use their office to undermine democracy. In Europe these are called illiberal …

How Democracies Die (Download Only)
How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Comprehensive enlightening and terrifyingly timely The New York Times Book …

How Democracies Die - JSTOR
this book unearths. The authors examine the historical manifestations of authoritarian-ism across some carefully selected countries and regions where democratic breakdowns had been …

How democracies die (Book Review) - SSRN
The book comes accompanied by a historical description of well-known cases of democratic breakdowns, from Venezuela to Turkey, from Hungary to Peru and Ecuador, and last but not …

Transcript of interview on Fresh Air radio show on NPR …
primary way in which democracies have died since the end of the Cold War, over the last 30 years or so, is at the hands of elected leaders, at the hands of governments that were often freely or …

International Journal Book Reviews The Author(s) 2019 DOI: …
explain not just why and how democracies experience crisis, but also how they can disappear altogether, and often with a whimper rather than a bang. Indeed, the first key argument of the …

IDH2930 How Democracies Die - University of Florida
This class examines the state of democracy in the world, with special focus on the United States, through the lenses of one book: How Democracies Die, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. …

'How Democracies Die' & 'On Tyranny' Dr. Andrew Roth By …
Levitsky and Ziblatt’s How Democracies Die and Snyder’s On Tyranny. Among older works that saw a revival was Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here, a novelistic treatment of the rise of a …

Comparative Democratization and Democratic Backsliding
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die (New York: Crown Publishers, 2018). A number of significant democratic reversals in recent decades have fueled a general sense of …

The Crisis of - ed
In our 2018 book, How Democracies Die, we show how Amer - ica’s democratic norms have been unraveling over the last three decades. There were early signs in the 1990s, when Newt Gin …

How Democracies Die What History Reveals About Our Future
In How Democracies Die, Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt draw insightful lessons from across history - from the rule of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile to the quiet …

UNH Stages â•ŸHow Democracies Dieâ•Ž
UNH Stages â•ŸHow Democracies Dieâ•Ž. Grace Eveleigh, Staff Writer How Democracies Die is a New York Times best-selling book by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt about the ways in …

Book Review: How Democracies Perish Book - behorizon.org
Though the book offers rich empirical evidence from many countries, the value of each evidence is questionable as the author seems to frame every instance along the lines of the struggle …

How Democracies Die (Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt)
Having set up the point of the book, Levitsky and Ziblatt pull back the camera to analyze supposed analogues abroad, in places where democracy has allegedly eroded more than in …

How Democracies Die Free Download - netsec.csuci.edu
Understanding the Central Argument of "How Democieties Die" Levitsky and Ziblatt's "How Democracies Die" isn't a doom-and-gloom prophecy; it's a pragmatic analysis of how seemingly gradual erosion can lead to authoritarianism. The authors argue that democracies don't typically die through dramatic coups, but rather through a slow, insidious ...

How Democracies Die Book (2024) - gestao.formosa.go.gov.br
How Democracies Die Book How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Comprehensive enlightening and terrifyingly timely The New York Times Book Review Editors Choice WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE

DANIEL ZIBLATT - Scholars at Harvard
Goldsmith Book Prize, Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School, Best Non-fiction book of the year (for co-authored How Democracies Die) 2018. NDR Kultur Sachbuchpreis. Best Non-fiction book published in 2018, German Public Radio (for co …

How Democracies Die What History Reveals About Our Future
of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein, Vox “If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . .

Episode 134 How Democracies Die - scholars.org
professor Daniel Ziblatt of the new book, How Democracies Die. Steven, thanks so much for coming on the show. Steven Levitsky: [00:01:18] Thanks for having me. Avi Green: [00:01:20] In How Democracies Die, you make the point that in the past democracies may have died more frequently from a military coup whereas these days they die a slow sort of

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How Democracies Die PDF: A Deep Dive into Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt's Masterpiece Are you fascinated by the fragility of democracy? Do you want to understand the subtle, often insidious, ways in which ... No, the book's insights are applicable to democracies globally, regardless of their historical context or political system. The ...

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How Democracies Die Pdf How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Comprehensive enlightening and terrifyingly timely The New York Times Book Review Editors Choice WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF …

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book not the original How Democracies Die We strongly encourage you to purchase the original text as well Democracy for Realists Christopher H. Achen,Larry M. Bartels,2017-08-29 Why our belief in government by the people is unrealistic

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How Democracies Die Pdf ... Democracies Die This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans It is a book for all Americans It is nonpartisan It is fact based It is deeply rooted in history The best commentary on our politics no contest Michael Morrell former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence

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3 Despite its strengths, How Democracies Die has one fundamental problem: it claims polarization is the underlying problem for democracy, and yet the book itself is a deeply polarizing work. Ziblatt and Levitsky rely on the stance that Republicans created this …

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How Democracies Die Pdf How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Comprehensive enlightening and terrifyingly timely The New York Times Book Review Editors Choice WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF …

How Democracies Die
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt Broadway Books | Paperback | 978-1-5247-6294-0 | 320 pages | $15.00 Also available in e-book format and as an audio download Penguin Random House Education, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019 penguinrandomhouseeducation.com • commonreads.com QUERIES: …

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DANIEL ZIBLATT Harvard University
Goldsmith Book Prize, Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School, Best Non-fiction book of the year (for co-authored How Democracies Die (2018) 2018. NDR Kultur Sachbuchpreis. Best non-fiction book published in 2018, German Public Radio (for co-authored book Wie Demokratien Sterben (2018) 2018.

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How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • …

How Democracies Die
About the book Check more about How Democracies Die Summary In an era of rising populism and democratic backsliding, How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky explores the critical question of how democracies crumble from within. Levitsky argues that rather than being brought down by dramatic coups or military takeovers, modern

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How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY

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How Democracies Die Book Summary, … How Democracies Die - Internet Archive This is how democracies now die. Blatant dictatorship—in the form of fascism, communism, or military rule—has disappeared across much of the world. Military coups and other violent … Discussion of Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s How Democracies Die

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Democracies Die. It was written by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two noted political scientists. It was a best seller and is widely assigned in political science classes. The book focuses on situations where authoritarian personalities win the top position through election and then use their office to undermine democracy.

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Book details: Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt. 2018. How democracies die. New York: Broadway Books. 320 pp. ISBN 9781524762940. ... with the title How democracies die is, in the first place, a testimony of the hidden subtleties of that concept. In the second place, it also constitutes an essential questioning of democracy and ...

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How Democracies Die . London: Penguin, 2019. Introduction “Ideological bias in the media” is a multidisciplinary topic that falls under media studies, ... 17 Thomas Carlyle, in his book On Heroes and Hero Worship , attributed the origin of the term “Fourth Estate” to

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Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved. Praise for How Democracies Die “What we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of ... Chapter 23 Section 1 Note Taking Study Growth Of Western Democracies (book) ...

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How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • …

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How Democracies Die How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Comprehensive enlightening and terrifyingly timely The New York Times Book Review Editors Choice WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF …

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The book, How Democracies Die, has nine chapters that discuss the factors that contributed to the derailment of the American political process, with politicians hurling outrageous allegations at each other and the institutions becoming discredited, leading the US to a point where its democratic system is under threat. ...

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How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky,Daniel Ziblatt,2019-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • …

How Democracies Die Chapter 1 Summary
How Democracies Die Chapter 1 Summary John Dunn ... Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on …

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How Democracies Die Chapter 1 Summary ... Democracies Die This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans It is a book for all Americans It is nonpartisan It is fact based It is deeply rooted in history The best commentary on our politics no contest Michael Morrell former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence

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Summary & Analysis: How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt Black Book,2019 Book Summary Of How Democracies Die This book explains the historical establishment of democracy in the United States and what the United. 2 States has done to preserve it. It additionally offers a study into the increase and fall of democracies in ...

Steven Levitsky y Daniel ZiblattHow Democracies Die, …
How Democracies Die, , Nueva York, Broadway Books & Penguin Random House, 2019. Hugo Rangel Torrijo. Universidad de Guadalajara. hugo.rangel@mail.mcgill.ca. L . os autores, politólogos de Harvard y ampliamente cono-cidos, publican este ensayo sobre la naturaleza de la de-mocracia y en particular sobre las causas de su debilitamiento.