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A review by deciasaid
How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future by Daniel Ziblatt, Steven Levitsky
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This should be a required reading for every civics class in high school. Now, although it was published in 2018, a lot of concepts are timeless. The analysis of how democracies in other countries fell give us clues as to how to prevent it in the United States. The only outdated part are the final chapters, which talk about events occurring in 2018.
One criticism I have is that it focuses on how an individual politician can take advantage of democratic structures to create a fascist state. What makes the situation in the United States unique is that we have a techno-billionaire class that is influencing the government in pursuit of maximizing their profits (oligarchy). I wish the book addressed how capitalist systems are also a factor in the deterioration of democracy.
Despite that, this book is more important than ever considering the current political climate.
One criticism I have is that it focuses on how an individual politician can take advantage of democratic structures to create a fascist state. What makes the situation in the United States unique is that we have a techno-billionaire class that is influencing the government in pursuit of maximizing their profits (oligarchy). I wish the book addressed how capitalist systems are also a factor in the deterioration of democracy.
Despite that, this book is more important than ever considering the current political climate.