How to save democracy: dealing with authoritarian behavior

How democracies die is the name of a book written by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky. They published it in 2018, during Donald Trump’s presidency and it quickly became a Best Seller in the U.S. Are our democracies in danger? How presidents who were democratically elected become authoritarian? Can a single person weaken a structure that supports the concepts of equality and solidarity? These are the questions the authors intended to answer.

The United States, since the end of World War II, is considered the first world power (although some people believe that China currently occupies that place). One of the main reasons for the primacy of the US around the globe, according to the investigators, is that it has the oldest and most stable democracy in the world. But they also show that since the last quarter of a century the democracy of that country began slowly and gradually to erode. And although from outside to inside the barriers of democracy pretend to be solid, from inside to outside it would not be so.

Analyzing different foreign authoritarian regimes they try to develop the idea that it is not so difficult to pass from a constitutional regime to a totalitarian one. And that an autocrat may, in the beginning, not seem so: assuming power through presidential elections.

Most of the time, political parties, who should be in charge of defending democracy, wrongly empower demagogue and populist leaders, whom they believe they will later control. This conception was exemplified with the Germany of Adolf Hitler, or the Italy of Benito Mussolini.

In a part of the book, there is a very interesting fable from Aesop which describes what the authors are trying to explain: “A horse decided to take revenge on a deer that had offended him and began the persecution of his enemy. He soon realized that he just couldn't reach it, and then asked a hunter for help. The hunter agreed, but said: 'If you want to hunt the deer you must allow me to place this iron between your jaws, to be able to guide you with these reins, and let this chair be placed on your back to be able to ride while chasing the enemy.' With the help of the hunter, the horse beat the deer. Then he told the hunter to take the reins and get off his back. The hunter replied: 'not so fast, friend. Now I have you holding the reins and spurs and I prefer to stay with you as a gift'.”

Authoritarian behavior
There are four indicators to recognize an authoritarian leader.

1. Rejection of democratic game rules (such as not respecting the constitution, restriction of organizations or basic civil rights).
2. Denial of the legitimacy of political adversaries.
3. Tolerance or promotion of violence.
4. Censorship of the media. In most cases, authoritarian governments take over when society is unprotected, without a leader or a stable order, in a chaotic situation including high levels of poverty, hunger, disease, and violence. These leaders capture the masses taking advantage of the general disappointment through promises that will never be really fulfilled. Only to gain their support and fidelity.

Down below is presented a chart that shows the authoritarian tendencies after a year in the presidency of some leaders.

Institutional containment and tolerance
The guardians of democracy, the political parties, must keep these types of individuals away even though their own interests are harmed. Because in reality, the primary purpose is to maintain a solid and respected constitution. Obedience to the national constitution - the written laws - is complemented by the "unwritten rules": that is, in every country, in every political system, there are moral, ethical and consensual rules that, despite not being explicit, must be obeyed. So democracy advocates must take distance from individuals who threaten what they defend.

In the U.S case, Levitsky and Ziblatt insist that, so that there is no total degradation of democracy, it is necessary to respect the rights of immigrants and African Americans. When racial discrimination in a democracy is overcome, there will be a greater agreement between parties: that they will no longer be seen as mortal enemies, but as legitimate rivals. And together, they can defend the country from any individual that represents a threat to their constitutional rights. In the book, they published a quote from Daniel Allen, a colleague, who said that the crux of the matter “is that the world has never built a multiethnic democracy in which a particular ethnic group makes up the majority and where political and social equality has been achieved, with an applied economy that enables them”. The investigators wanted to show that higher levels of democracy will be achieved when the crack and polarization between the two main parties end.

How to save democracy
First of all, avoid polarization between majoritarian and opposite parties, a situation that occurs in many countries. The other should not be considered as an enemy but as a legitimate rival.

Between 1990 and 2015 was the most democratic period in the worldwide history of occidental countries. In this period, most of them supported the idea of stopping wars, which until recently had brought them so much trouble and deaths. It was an era where they had really learned that democracy should be respected because otherwise, chaos would reign.

Taking away the dictators by making them lose public support and spreading their authoritarian behaviors, through destitution or a political trial, is another way of saving democracy. It’s important to maintain a developing diversified economy, having university education with international recognition and respect geographical diversity across the region, given the globalized world we live in.

I close with this appointment:

By Micaela Seidman

Micaela Seidman is a 21-year-old-student from Buenos Aires, Argentina who is currently studying a Law Degree at the University of San Isidro.  She is working at the Buenos Aires City Government. She is the CEO and Founder of 

Consilium Worldwide.