Democratic Backsliding: A Summer Reading List
A Little Bit of Political Science, But Not Too Much
Hello folks! This coming week I am introducing and launching The Civic Forum (noon, EST) with a short lecture on “democratic backsliding”— the process through which democracy erodes into authoritarianism. Here is the registration and event link for those interested in attending live: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e2.
I believe all the bugs have been worked out, but here’s a link with directions in case anyone gets confused.
I’m revisiting some old readings on backsliding to get ready, and I thought I’d share some for those who are looking for a summer syllabus of sorts. I’ve chosen articles instead of books, and I’ve avoided pieces that are too laden with jargon, stats, and so forth. So a little bit of political science, but not too much.
So here you go: five short things you should read to get smarter on democratic backsliding:
Bermeo, Nancy. 2016. “On Democratic Backsliding.” Journal of Democracy 27(1): 5-19. This is the classic statement of what backsliding is and how it’s changed. The takeaway— gone are the days of the military coup or overt election theft, in are the days of “executive aggrandizement,” i.e. the slow erosion of democratic rules and institutions by the ruling party. Think Orban, Erdogan, and yes, Trump.
Taub, Amanda. 2024. “The Game Theory of Democracy”. The New York Times. This is a nice writeup of many of the insights from political science on democratic stability and erosion, written just before Trump was re-elected. It features commentary from Adam Przeworski, who talks about how we used to consider the United States a fully consolidated democracy, and how polarization and the increased stakes of the political game have incentivized power grabs.
Herre, Bastian. “The World Has Recently Become Less Democratic.” Our World in Data Blog. This is a great writeup on the “democratic recession” for those who like to get into the data.
Svolik, Milan. 2019. “Polarization versus Democracy.” Journal of Democracy 30(3), pp.20-32. This is a nice summary of some of Svolik’s work on the relationship between polarization and support for democracy. The key finding is that highly polarized/partisan people are more likely to support anti-democratic behavior by elites, especially if it is committed by their side. His research points to the importance of political centrists who care relatively more about democracy because they are less committed to specific policies.
Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt. "The Crisis of American Democracy." American Educator 44, no. 3 (2020): 6. Levitsky and Ziblatt have written so much about American backsliding and have shown remarkable prescience and courage. I like this short older piece from pre-election 2020 that gets at the fundamental causes of the current political moment. It introduces the two principles that undergird stable democracies at the elite level: forbearance and mutual toleration. It’s also interesting what it gets wrong, notably the Republican Party’s ability to win back younger voters in 2024.
That’s all for this week. See you on Thursday for those who can make it.
Best,
Rory