This Is How Democracies Die

[Dill]

(01-25-2018, 03:02 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I read a book recently called On Tyranny which is about lessons learned from the rise and fall of democracies in the twentieth century. These primarily have happened at the hand of fascism and communism in central and eastern Europe, but a lot of the information rings true for others, as well. It's a good book, and the author is a well known scholar on the history of eastern Europe. Anyway, because of this book, this opinion piece caught my eye.


This is only an excerpt of a book by two Harvard professors of government (one European, one Latin American, both with focuses on democratization as well). I think it is rather thought provoking, though.

Of course, I know some will dismiss this at liberal, elitist, anti-Trump hate from academia and so it isn't worth anything. I just know that I am seeing norms being torn down, norms that existed to keep our institutions upright. This is concerning to me, and I feel we need to pay close attention to what is done.

Thanks for posting this. Levitsky was on C-Span a couple weeks ago talking about the four danger signs.  Hope I get around to reading On Tyranny sometime (I overloaded with other stuff at the moment).

One of the critical points he made concerned how much of the demogogue's power is derived from supporters who have turned away from democracy to prefer authoritarian values and norms--like "strong" leaders who will talk tough on the international stage and harsh laws to punish or expel those defined as "losers" at home.