Transcription
So in my book, How Democracies Die, Steve Levitzky and I, my co-author, developed a kind of litmus test inspired by a great Spanish political scientist named Juan Lind. There are four key warning signs that your democracy might be in trouble.
Number one, do you see a weak commitment to democratic rules? Do leaders dismiss court rulings? Do they try to discredit election results? Warning.
Number two, do leaders deny the legitimacy of their opponents? Do they call their rivals traitors, criminals, existential threats?
Warning sign number three, toleration or encouragement of violence. Do you see political leaders condone violence, actively support violence? Do they use inflammatory rhetoric? If you see this, you should be worried.
And warning sign number four, do you see efforts and promises to curtail civil liberties? Do politicians threaten journalists? Do they pro oppose shutting down critics? Do they threaten to use state power against opponents?
Any of these four warning signs is a red flag. But if a leader shows several of them, history tells us we should be very worried.
Now, it's true that authoritarians rarely announce themselves. They don't storm the gates, they run for office. And once elected, they change the rules from inside. So, if we care about democracy, we must pay attention before they take power. We must hold establishment leaders accountable when they ally with them. Again, remember this is one of the greatest lessons of the Vimmer era. When mainstream parties make coalitions with authoritarian ones, democracy itself is put at risk.