prodemocratic parties can avoid all alliances with…

“This is how we tend to think of democracies dying: at the hands of men with guns.”

— Steven Levitsky

“A quarrel had arisen between the Horse and the Stag, so the Horse came to a Hunter to ask his help to take revenge…

— Steven Levitsky

“the fundamental problem facing American democracy remains extreme partisan division—one fueled not just by policy differences but by deeper sources of resentment, including racial…

— Steven Levitsky

“But there is another way to break a democracy. It is less dramatic but equally destructive. Democracies may die at the hands not of…

— Steven Levitsky

“Two basic norms have preserved America’s checks and balances in ways we have come to take for granted: mutual toleration, or the understanding that…

— Steven Levitsky

“But now we find ourselves turning to our own country. Over the past two years, we have watched politicians say and do things that…

— Steven Levitsky

“These two norms undergirded American democracy for most of the twentieth century. Leaders of the two major parties accepted one another as legitimate and…

— Steven Levitsky

“Democracies may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders—presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them…

— Steven Levitsky

“Yet, we worry. American politicians now treat their rivals as enemies, intimidate the free press, and threaten to reject the results of elections.”

— Steven Levitsky

“Is our democracy in danger? It is a question we never thought we’d be asking. We have been colleagues for fifteen years, thinking, writing,…

— Steven Levitsky