In politics as well as political science, there is much talk about “the global crisis of democracy.” While its nature and even its very existence are controversial, there is a consensus within the literature that the most common form of democratic demise today is its stepwise subversion by elected governments.
After gaining power in democratic elections, de-democratizing governments have all followed a similar basic script. Act one: they gain control over rulemaking after winning legislative majorities. Act two: they extend their controlling powers to the final settlement of conflict by subjecting supreme courts to partisan control. Act three: once they are in control of the legal system (the content, implementation, and adjudication of law) they are (legally) free to colonize the entire state bureaucracy (including the management of elections) and to domesticate the media and civil society. They are free to pick from the authoritarian “menu” of institutional and electoral manipulation at their convenience. Whatever they do enjoys legal sanction. The rule of men, not law, is established by law. The partisan control of the legal system allows for the lawful subversion of democracy.
Through its readings, debates, and written assignments, the seminar seeks to guide its participants toward a structured, analytical understanding of the basic logic of such gradual transitions from democracy to electoral authoritarianism. We will be jointly reflecting on democracy and its enemies, types of regimes and regime change, paradigmatic cases of democratic subversion, structural explanations and agent-based accounts, the corrosive force of polarization, the dilemmas of democratic resistance, and the role of citizens.
- Instructor: Andreas Schedler