How Democracies Die

How Democracies Die is a book by Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt about how elected leaders can gradually subvert the democratic process to increase their power.  

Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Levitsky and 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.

Related posts
Clean Campaigns Act Unanimously Approved by Seattle City Council!

BIG win in Seattle! Two of the three bills that are part of the Clean Campaigns Act passed unanimously.

Books
Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy

Written by Richard L. Hasen, this book offers concrete steps that need to be taken to restore trust in American elections before the democratic process is completely undermined.

Books
Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America

Written by Gilda R. Daniels, this book warns that a premeditated strategy of restrictive laws and deceptive practices has taken root and is eroding the very basis of American democracy—the right to vote!