How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt was published in 2018, during President Trump’s first term in the US. The book focuses largely on US history and politics. Still, what I found most interesting was the first chapter, where the authors describe the common pattern of how authoritarian governments gain power through the democratic process and elections, and then later destroy the pillars of a free and democratic society during their reign.
Whether it was Adolf Hitler in Germany, Getúlio Vargas in Brazil, Alberto Fujimori in Peru, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, or, of course, Donald Trump in the US, they all came to power through the democratic process with the help of establishment political elites and were driven by short-term partisan goals. In all these cases, established parties made a ‘fateful alliance’ with a populist outsider whose message was resonating with people’s frustration and grievance. The supporting political party thought that once they won the election, they could set guardrails and boundaries to control the demagogue they helped elevate. In all those cases, their plan backfired, allowing these leaders to dismantle democratic institutions incrementally and gradually from the inside.