How Democracies Die summary

You may not think of a tried-and-true political party as a gatekeeper of democracy, but this is exactly what they do. By accepting and promoting the candidates of an upcoming election, they decide who is allowed to enter mainstream politics.

Political parties have a responsibility to protect democracy – a job they have spectacularly failed at on occasion. One such occasion was Venezuela in the 1990s when the populist dictator Hugo Chávez rose to power.

There had been political extremism in the US throughout the twentieth century. In the 1930s alone there were 800 radical right-wing organizations, but they never achieved any power because the major political parties were vigilant gatekeepers.

Since the early 1800s, political parties in the US have been responsible for electing presidential candidates. The popular image is of party leaders gathering together in the proverbial “smoke-filled room” to decide who had the best chance of being elected and representing the interests of the party.

On June 15, 2015, reality TV show star and businessman Donald Trump announced he would run for president. At first, nobody took him seriously – people saw it as another attempt at generating publicity.

During the so-called “invisible primaries,” which take place before the real primaries, there was still little reason to see him as a legitimate contender. The invisible primaries are when candidates compete for endorsements from established political figures within their parties. Trump came away empty-handed.

You may not think there’s such a thing as an accidental autocrat, but it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

Autocracy can come about through a gradual escalation of actions and reactions that go against democracy, such as the events surrounding the election of Alberto Fujimori as Peru’s president in 1990.

The US Constitution is a wonderful document, but it’s not without its flaws. For example, it does little to prevent a president from doing undemocratic things such as filling the FBI or other independent government agencies with obedient subjects. Nor does it prevent a president from acting by decree, issuing executive orders at every turn.

What really keeps democracy going is an adherence to the unwritten rules. In particular, democracy thrives on two things: mutual toleration and institutional forbearance.

During the 1850s – with the US heading towards civil war – the issue of slavery created a sharp divide throughout the nation. The Republican Party had just been formed, and their anti-slavery platform was seen as a threat to the livelihood of the plantation owners in the South who were backed by Democrat party leaders.

Mutual toleration was reaching new lows in the US, and even the floor of the US House and Senate was not immune to toxic attitudes. From 1830 to 1860, around 125 acts of violence were committed by representatives and senators, including the brandishing or use of pistols, canes and knives.

These days, it’s not hard to find signs of how intensely partisan US politics has become. For instance, in 2016, Republican senators made an unprecedented move: following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, they unanimously refused to consider President Obama’s nomination for a replacement.

Today’s modern divide can be traced back to the 1960s when party politics increasingly became a matter of race and religion.

The big question now is whether Trump really wants to be a dictator or if he’s all talk.

According to the authors, Trump has followed the authoritarian playbook in many of his actions. For starters, he has tried to capture the referees. In his first week as president, Trump reportedly sat down to dinner with former FBI Director James Comey and asked him to pledge his loyalty. When it became clear that Comey had no such intentions, he was fired.

Maintaining democracy takes effort. It can be challenging when you have a population that’s as diverse in its beliefs and perspectives as that of the US, but it’s by no means impossible.

One of the keys to upholding democracy is to resist fighting fire with fire.