Tyranny of the Minority

Praise

“An exceptionally persuasive book . . . Ziblatt and Levitsky are two of America’s very best comparative political scientists, with expertise that makes them uniquely well-equipped for the subject they’re examining. . . . Tyranny of the Minority is one of the best guides out there to the crisis of American democracy.”—Vox

“Old democracies tend to last, and so do rich democracies, Steven Levitsky and Daniel 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

“Among rich democracies, America is uniquely vulnerable to authoritarianism. If that statement surprises you, it shouldn’t. In their new book, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt explain why this is true and how we can fix it: To stop democratic decay, we need to embrace our own tradition of constitutional reform. Just like their previous work, this book is concise, readable, and convincing.”—Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy
 
“Extending the brilliant analysis of their runaway bestseller, How Democracies Die, the authors vividly analyze the facets of America’s democracy, some of them hardwired into our constitutional design and others baked into our history, that make our political system uniquely vulnerable to unrepresentative rule by the few over the many. To their credit, they offer no easy solutions, but Levitsky and Ziblatt challenge us to use our voices and our votes to push back against these inherently antidemocratic features of our endangered republic.”—Laurence H. Tribe, University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus, Harvard

“Levitsky and Ziblatt explain why we Americans are still in the fight of our lives. The smaller of our two major parties has traveled down the road of authoritarianism—rejecting fair election outcomes, casually accepting rightwing violence, and embracing extremist political figures. But our antiquated political institutions and practices entrench the power of this extremist minority and keep the pro-democratic American majority from governing. This eye-opening study, filled with analysis of analogous historical moments from around the world, is an essential primer in the struggle for democracy this century.”—Rep. Jamie Raskin, author of Unthinkable

“[A] chilling study of how recent political turmoil demonstrates that, ‘far from checking authoritarian power, our institutions have begun to augment it.’ . . . The authors bolster their wide-ranging narrative with geopolitical and historical examples and informed analyses of the intricate mechanisms of governance. . . . A well-organized and convincing argument.”—Kirkus Reviews