About the Book: Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one.
My Thoughts: Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, I have been getting more into politics and every time I ask the question how the hell did this man get nominated in the first place. At first, I was thrilled with the idea of a non political guy going into office. He was a successful business man and I thought he knew how to negotiate. Then came the shit show that is our president now. He is an awful man who is tearing this country apart even further.
I am slowly learning all these political terms and I am doing research. Some of these terms I heard 9 years ago when I was a senior in high school and my teacher was great at explaining those things. The thing that really got me irked was in the first chapter when they are talking about alliances, the authors mention Mussolini & Rome, Hitler & Germany, and Chavez & Venezuela. In one paragraph they would be talking about Mussolini, then go straight into talking about Hitler and then go back to Mussolini. It was kind of confusing that they put both of these men together but then Chavez gets a paragraph or two all to his rise to power.
The question is... Is our democracy on its way to extinction??
About the Author: Steven Levitsky is an American political scientist and Professor of Government at Harvard University. A comparative political scientist, his research interests focus on Latin America and include political parties and party systems, authoritarianism and democratization, and weak and informal institutions. He is notable for his work on competitive authoritarian regimes and informal political institutions.
Daniel Ziblatt is a Professor of Government at Harvard University. Ziblatt studies Europe from the nineteenth century to the present. He is the author, most recently, of Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy. He has written for Vox and The New York Times, among other publications.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
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