How Democracies Die

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Democracy is a very old system of government. Contemporary Americans, and many others across the world, think of it as a fact of modern life. But history shows that democracies are fragile. Not only have many successful democracies collapsed after relatively short periods of time, they have collapsed in ways that bear some striking similarities. When subjected to various internal and external pressures, many democracies have morphed - gradually at first, then drastically - into authoritarian regimes that concentrate power in the hands of a few people (or a single person), and turn the ends of the state toward power over people rather than giving power to people. Many people across recorded history have noticed this trend and tried to warn their contemporaries about it. The founders of new democracies have meditated on the system’s flaws, and theorized ways of solving them. Historians, philosophers, and politicians have all tried to use their expertise to prevent their own democratic regimes from collapsing. Most have failed.

In this course, we study democracies in four historical eras on their own terms. We learn about the conditions that produced them, how they built upon their own predecessors, and how they failed. We read the works of historical actors trying to prevent these failures. Along the way, we learn how to read complex primary and secondary sources, how to write analytically and creatively, how to interview others about their historical memories, and how think more deeply about our own place in history and our own responsibilities as political actors.