Tyranny of the Minority: How to Reverse an Authoritarian Turn, and Forge a Democracy for All

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An urgent follow-up to international bestseller How Democracies Die, by two leading democracy experts With the clarity and brilliance that made their first book, How Democracies Die, a global bestseller, leading Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt offer a coherent new framework for understanding the dangerous times we live in. They draw on a wealth of examples - from the Capitol riots to Edwardian Britain, from 1930s France to present-day Thailand - to explore right-wing efforts to undermine the very foundations of the American political system, and to explain why and how political parties turn against democracy. With its attention on factors from election losses to demographic change and voting rights, its urgent call for a reform of our politics to balance the need for majority rule with the need for minority protections, and a citizens' movement to put enough pressure on lawmakers to act before it's too late, Tyranny of the Minority is a must-read for everyone keen to see more vibrant democracy - and to understand where future threats may come from.

Reviews

An exceptionally perceptive and wide-ranging book . . . [that lays] out an ambitious fifteen-plank project of democratic renewal -- Lawrence Douglas * TLS *
Concise, readable, and convincing -- Anne Applebaum * author of Twilight of Democracy *
Old democracies tend to last, and so do rich democracies, Levitsky and Ziblatt point out in this searing, unsettling, and essential new book, but American democracy, which is both old and rich, is dying. In Tyranny of the Minority, they explain why, and they explain, too, how to save it -- Jill Lepore * author of These Truths *
Ziblatt and Levitsky are two of Americas very best comparative political scientists, with expertise that makes them uniquely well-equipped for the subject theyre examining . . . Tyranny of the Minority is an exceptional book, one of the best guides out there to the crisis of American democracy -- Zack Beauchamp * Vox *
Provocative and readable -- David Runciman on How Democracies Die
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies * The Washington Post *

Author Bio

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are Professors of Government at Harvard University, and co-authors of international bestseller How Democracies Die. A New York Times op-ed written by the pair - "Is Donald Trump a threat to democracy" - was shared over 200k times in Dec 2016. Levitsky is the author of Competitive Authoritarianism and is the recipient of numerous teaching awards. Ziblatt is the author of Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy. Both Levitsky and Ziblatt have written for Vox and the New York Times, among other publications.