A Whimper, Not a Bang: A Review of 'How Democracies Die,' by Stephen Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (Lawfare, Sept. 13, 2017)

Abstract

In 'How Democracies Die,' political scientists Stephen Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt explain how modern democracies are vulnerable to creeping authoritarianism, and apply this model to the United States. This review gives a summary of the book and argues that, while Levitsky and Ziblatt's explanatory account is correct, their analysis of norm violations in contemporary democracies is both normatively and descriptively incomplete.