How Democracies Die : What History Tells Us About Our Future

Democracies die in three stages: the election of an authoritarian leader, the concentration and abuse of governmental power and finally, the complete repression of opposition and citizens. The first step was taken by the U.S. with the election of Donald Trump; we must all learn how we can prevent all three.From how General Augusto Pinochet dramatically seized power in Chile in 1973 to the quiet undermining of Turkey’s constitutional system by President Recip Erdogan, Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt draw insightful lessons from democracies in crisis across history to shine a light on governmental breakdown across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.Based on years of research, How Democracies Die is both an alarming exploration of the unthinkable – how democracy is subverted or destroyed – and a guide for the roads ahead, for governments and individuals. The route democracy takes will hinge, to a large extent, on how leaders, and we ourselves, respond, and this masterpiece will help us do so.