“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, and teaching students about failures of democracy in other places and times—Europe’s dark 1930s, Latin America’s… — Steven Levitsky Copy Share Image
“This is how we tend to think of democracies dying: at the hands of men with guns.” — Steven Levitsky Copy Share Image
“A quarrel had arisen between the Horse and the Stag, so the Horse came to a Hunter to ask his help to take revenge on the Stag. The Hunter agreed but said: “If you desire to conquer the Stag, you must permit me to place this piece of iron between your jaws, so that I may guide you with these… — Steven Levitsky Copy Share
“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 Copy Share Image
“prodemocratic parties can avoid all alliances with antidemocratic parties and candidates.” — Steven Levitsky Copy Share Image
“But there is another way to break a democracy. It is less dramatic but equally destructive. 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 to power. Some of these leaders dismantle democracy quickly, as Hitler did in the wake of the 1933 Reichstag fire… — Steven Levitsky Copy Share
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
