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A review by nere
How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future by Daniel Ziblatt, Steven Levitsky
informative
fast-paced
5.0
28 jan 2025
synopsis
The first one-third of the book essentially takes a comparative history approach, comparing different democracies that have failed across the world and identifying their shared characteristics. From this, developing a framework to identify when democracy is descending into authoritarianism. The next two-thirds of the book goes into how this relates to the United States and, what I would say, are fragile, barely-there guard rails in American society to protect against authoritarian rulers. (God, so much of American government is a bunch of norms in a trench coat.) It’s written incredibly accessibly and I was honestly riveted the whole time. I couldn’t put it down. It lends itself to really understanding all of the ways the foundations of the American government has led us to this moment.
synopsis
The first one-third of the book essentially takes a comparative history approach, comparing different democracies that have failed across the world and identifying their shared characteristics. From this, developing a framework to identify when democracy is descending into authoritarianism. The next two-thirds of the book goes into how this relates to the United States and, what I would say, are fragile, barely-there guard rails in American society to protect against authoritarian rulers. (God, so much of American government is a bunch of norms in a trench coat.) It’s written incredibly accessibly and I was honestly riveted the whole time. I couldn’t put it down. It lends itself to really understanding all of the ways the foundations of the American government has led us to this moment.
scope & limitations
Since it was published in 2018, the authors are writing from the perspective of the midst of Trump's first term. Because of this, they obviously don't have the context of the pandemic (and the massive fail in government response), impeachment, or of the January 6th insurrection. (Frankly, I believe this makes their warnings all the more potent.)
author credentials
Authors are both American political scientists. Both are professors of government at Harvard University. Levitsky is a senior fellow for democracy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Building on Linz's work, we have developed a set of four behavioral warning signs that can help us know an authoritarian when we see one. We should worry when a politician 1) rejects, in words or action, the democratic rules of the game, 2) denies the legitimacy of opponents, 3) tolerates or encourages violence, or 4) indicates a willingness to curtail the civil liberties of opponents, including the media. Table 1 shows how to assess politicians in terms of these four factors. A politician who meets even one of these criteria is cause for concern.”