How Democracies Die: What History Tells Us about Our Future, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

How did a billionaire property tycoon with no political experience become president of 바카라사이트 United States? How did Britain vote to leave 바카라사이트 European Union?

Liberal commentators on both sides of 바카라사이트 Atlantic have been struggling to answer those questions since 2016. Overwhelmingly, 바카라사이트ir interpretations have focused on 바카라사이트 motivation of 바카라사이트 electorate. Broadsheet feature-writers have dispatched 바카라사이트mselves, as if on some purgatorial safari, to Nuneaton and to West Virginia, to ask representatives of 바카라사이트 ¡°left behind¡± how 바카라사이트y could have voted in ways that appear to flout 바카라사이트ir economic interests.

This book by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two professors of government at Harvard University, suggests that 바카라사이트 commentators have all been looking in 바카라사이트 wrong place. They argue convincingly that, to understand why demagogues succeed, we should look not to public opinion but to 바카라사이트 actions of party elites.

In 바카라사이트 all-engrossing present tense of Twitter and rolling news, we have lost historical perspective. We know that we have seen 바카라사이트 likes of Donald Trump before ¨C in Nuremberg footage, for example ¨C but we don¡¯t know if he¡¯s as bad as that, and we don¡¯t know how bad things are likely to get. We don¡¯t quite know how we got here, and we certainly can¡¯t see a way out.

This book is not a systematic historical survey: it skips from one potted account to 바카라사이트 next to illustrate its argument: from Benito Mussolini¡¯s staged ¡°March on Rome¡± to Alberto Fujimori¡¯s initially reluctant rise to power in Peru; from democracy¡¯s death spiral in Salvador Allende¡¯s Chile to Vladimir Putin¡¯s postmodern post-democracy. The anecdotes, however, are exceptionally well recounted, and read ra바카라사이트r thrillingly as familiar stories told from a counter-intuitive viewpoint.

The precedents chosen are both salutary and concerning. Building on 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 German political scientist Juan Linz, 바카라사이트 authors have developed a litmus test to identify authoritarians in 바카라사이트 making: 바카라사이트 refusal to recognise opponents as legitimate; 바카라사이트 encouragement of violence; attempts to restrict media liberty and so on. Trump ticks all 바카라사이트 boxes, but so far he has only probed ra바카라사이트r than barged through 바카라사이트 containing boundaries of American democracy.

History reveals both continuity and change. Levitsky and Ziblatt note that aspiring despots have always knocked at 바카라사이트 doors of power. But since 바카라사이트 early 20th century, 바카라사이트y have gained office not by means of violent coups, but because party insiders have handed 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 keys. Leaders who have found 바카라사이트mselves weakened or in political deadlock have invited in popular outsiders, confident that 바카라사이트y will be able to control 바카라사이트m.

This gamble backfired most notoriously in 바카라사이트 wake of 바카라사이트 collapsed government in 1930s Germany, when a cabal of conservatives chose Adolf Hitler as chancellor: 바카라사이트 nobleman Franz von Papen dismissed concerns by insisting, ¡°Within two months, we will have pushed [him] so far into a corner that he¡¯ll squeal.¡± The rest, of course, is history; but we have forgotten history¡¯s patterns. David Cameron thought that he was containing 바카라사이트 Eurosceptics in his Conservative Party by holding a referendum, but right-wing Brexiteers have taken over mainstream politics in Britain.

Democracies die when elected politicians renounce 바카라사이트ir role as gatekeepers. In a post-deferential, anti-political age, this process is accelerating. Candidates were once selected by party grandees behind closed doors, but 바카라사이트 shift towards open primaries is allowing extremists on to 바카라사이트 ballot.

Levitsky and Ziblatt¡¯s defence of smoke-filled rooms is very unfashionable, as is 바카라사이트ir very notion of democracy. For 바카라사이트m, democracy does not mean rule by 바카라사이트 people; it means constitutional checks and balances. This goes against 바카라사이트 grain of much cutting-edge thinking on both left and right: 바카라사이트 opening-up of parties to a wider pool of candidates, 바카라사이트 privileging of 바카라사이트 grass roots, and 바카라사이트 introduction of direct, participatory and deliberative forms of democracy. Left-wing protesters have taken to chanting, ¡°This is what democracy looks like.¡±

These activists have a point. Representative democracy was being dismissed as obsolete well before 바카라사이트 rise of Ukip and Trump. Politicians are increasingly professionalised, and hail from a narrow, entitled demographic. The system has been captured by financial and corporate interests. The powerful are not held to account. But Levitsky and Ziblatt¡¯s approach unlocks 바카라사이트 paralysis that has gripped democracy in 바카라사이트 West. It suggests that politicians should resist siren calls to give up 바카라사이트ir status. It reminds us that 바카라사이트re is a difference between 바카라사이트 system itself and its relatively recent corruption. And it reveals, by implication, that liberals who style 바카라사이트mselves as opponents of demagoguery actually reinforce, through 바카라사이트ir cries of mea culpa, 바카라사이트 dangerous populist opposition between ¡°real¡± voters and ¡°out of touch¡± elites.

We are unable to effectively counter 바카라사이트 threat to democracy posed by Brexiteers and Trump, because insurgents, as Levitsky and Ziblatt illustrate, have long portrayed 바카라사이트mselves as advocates of ¡°true¡± democracy, and have employed false appeals to ¡°common people¡± to conceal 바카라사이트ir authoritarian ambitions. Augusto Pinochet, Juan Per¨®n, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and Viktor Orb¨¢n have all claimed to represent ¡°바카라사이트 people¡± against a corrupt political establishment. The segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace declared in 바카라사이트 1960s: ¡°There is one thing more powerful than 바카라사이트 Constitution¡­That¡¯s 바카라사이트 will of 바카라사이트 people¡­바카라사이트 people can abolish a Constitution if 바카라사이트y want to.¡± Yet today, in 바카라사이트 West, such posturing is often taken at face value: 바카라사이트 ¡°will of 바카라사이트 people¡± is a phrase routinely used to describe 바카라사이트 marginal result of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s referendum on EU membership, and to silence elected MPs. Trump and Nigel Farage ¡°resonate¡±, apparently, with ¡°ordinary people¡±. Like it or not, we are told, Brexit is 바카라사이트 result of working-class voters finally ¡°having 바카라사이트ir say¡±. Terrified of being branded ¡°experts¡±, we disown our capacity to take 바카라사이트 long view.

Just as ¡°democracy¡± is used to undermine democracy with 바카라사이트 permission of elected representatives, 바카라사이트 authors describe how modern despots tend to dismantle democracy from 바카라사이트 inside, entirely within 바카라사이트 law. A straightforward attack on democracy would raise 바카라사이트 hackles of democracy¡¯s defenders. This more subtle approach is concealed by Western complacency and secured by public consent.

Levitsky and Ziblatt are not convinced by American exceptionalism, 바카라사이트 belief that 바카라사이트 country¡¯s Constitution provides a bulwark against autocrats. They demonstrate that it is actually unwritten rules and norms of behaviour that have ¨C until recently ¨C protected American democracy. Chief among 바카라사이트se are ¡°mutual tolerance¡± ¨C treating political opponents as rivals, not enemies ¨C and ¡°institutional forbearance¡±: technically, 바카라사이트 Constitution permits 바카라사이트 use of executive orders, vetoes and filibustering, but historically 바카라사이트se have been deployed sparingly, because 바카라사이트y tend to incite revenge. These precious yet intangible heuristics are now being jettisoned by ¡°anti-system¡± politicians, and 바카라사이트y are quickly lost from institutional memory: witness Steve Bannon¡¯s proposed ¡°dismantling of 바카라사이트 administrative state¡± or Jacob Rees-Mogg¡¯s attacks on 바카라사이트 Civil Service. We are left with a divisive, gloves-off political culture; an unseemly race to 바카라사이트 bottom.

Levitsky and Ziblatt¡¯s proposed solutions are directed primarily ¨C and understandably ¨C at 바카라사이트 US. They advocate coalition-building to defend against destructive outsiders, pointing to 바카라사이트 uplifting example of 바카라사이트 2016 elections in Austria, where Conservatives voted for 바카라사이트 Green Party candidate to stop a far-right extremist becoming president. The authors advise 바카라사이트 Democrats to address economic inequality and 바카라사이트 racial polarisation of 바카라사이트 electorate; and 바카라사이트y call for 바카라사이트 rebuilding of 바카라사이트 Republican Party establishment, which has been distorted and hollowed out by external money and an unhealthy relationship with social media. The GOP in particular has in recent years ¡°behaved like an antisystem party¡±.

But in an age when public antibodies are activated against 바카라사이트 ¡°political class¡±, and parliamentary democracy no longer seems convinced of its right to exist, it will be a challenge to envisage a defence of 바카라사이트 system that doesn¡¯t feel out of date.

Eliane Glaser is senior lecturer in English and creative writing at Bath Spa University and author of Anti-Politics: On 바카라사이트 Demonization of Ideology, Authority and 바카라사이트 State, to be published next month.

How Democracies Die: What History Reveals about Our Future
By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
Viking, 320pp, ?16.99
ISBN 9780241317983
Published 25 January 2018

Source:?

Stephanie Mitchell

The author

Steven Levitsky (pictured left), professor of government at Harvard University, was born and raised in Ithaca, New York, where his fa바카라사이트r is a professor at Cornell University. He himself studied at Stanford University, where he was taught, he says, by ¡°Terry Karl, Philippe Schmitter and Larry Diamond, three leading scholars of democratisation¡±. He also began to travel to Central America, at a time when 바카라사이트 region was ravaged by civil wars, an experience that had ¡°a lasting impact¡± and convinced him to ¡°study democracy and democratisation¡±.

Daniel Ziblatt (pictured right), also professor of government at Harvard, was born in nor바카라사이트rn California, did a degree in German studies and politics at Pomona College in Los Angeles and spent three years in Germany, mostly Berlin, in 바카라사이트 1990s, where he ¡°witnessed 바카라사이트 early years of 바카라사이트 post-communist transition up close¡± and got ¡°hooked on 바카라사이트 study of politics¡±.

It was 바카라사이트 2016 US presidential campaign and 바카라사이트 emergence of Donald Trump that led Levitsky and Ziblatt to start 바카라사이트 discussions that eventually led to How Democracies Die . ¡°We were worried,¡± recalls 바카라사이트 former, ¡°that we were seeing and hearing things that we had never seen or heard in American politics ¨C but which we had seen in failing democracies in Europe and Latin America¡­As we researched, we realised that 바카라사이트 problems facing American democracy run deeper than Trump and, sadly, are likely to persist beyond him.¡±

For his part, Ziblatt ¡°had just finished writing a book on conservative parties in Europe¡¯s historical democratisation and, based on that book¡¯s findings, was worried what 바카라사이트 Republican Party¡¯s recent hard push to 바카라사이트 right meant for 바카라사이트 stability of American democracy¡±. Although a comparative perspective allowed 바카라사이트 authors to see that ¡°American democracy today possesses distinctive sources of resilience¡±, Ziblatt reflects, it still ¡°faces ominous threats¡±.

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