How Democracies Die
Ratings31
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings31
Average rating4.2
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
Reviews with the most likes.
This book is incredibly interesting. As a forewarning the beginning and ends of this book do address the current administration but the majority of this book is looking at other democracies and how they failed or continue to thrive. It was interesting to see that even democracies that literally copied our constitution, government, courts and politics have fallen into authoritarianism and demagoguery. We are not unique in that our democracy is unique but in that our “soft guardrails” remained mostly intact for so long, until recently.
One of the things they found that eventually led to most failed democracies was their guardrails stopped working. Guardrails being:
Mutual toleration: The idea that all political rivals treat each other with civility and worthy of the positions. Not criminals or anti-patriots.
Institutional forbearance: The idea that those in power do not use the full power of their position to inhibit rivals from coming to power or pass legislation. They do not tilt the playing field unfairly in their favor. Basically, playing political hard-ball.
The book talks about reasons that these soft guardrails are failing, most notably the polarization of the parties, the enfranchising of diverse minority groups, declining middle-class and income inequality.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you were too young or not paying attention to international news and or American news 10 to 20 years ago. While this book centers America it seems to me that it contains information that is particularly valuable for people who live in countries that are highly influenced by the US and therefore tend to follow in its path (looking at you Canada).
The prose and writing style are very approachable and doesn't require that you have prior knowledge of a lot of verbiage so it's also a good entry point in the topic.
I feel like I've read this before, and still there are no viable solutions to the problem of GOP overreach.
I was expecting the book to be more about the death of democracies in general with a specific look at the United States at the end. But it's very much focused on the US from the start. Considering how bad the situation is (and if you don't think so, you will by the time you finish the book), I can't blame the authors.
The book makes clear that Trump is a great, immediate danger (certainly if a crisis should hit) but that things have been messed up for a while and quickly getting worse. They do propose a way out of the quagmire, but it would require a lot of citizens and politicians to start listening to the better angels of their natures.
