When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day

Democracy is often described in two opposite ways, as either wonderfully resilient or dangerously fragile. Both characterizations can be correct, depending on the context. When Democracy Breaks aims to deepen our understanding of what separates democratic resilience from democratic fragility by focu...

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Jezik:engleski
Izdano: Oxford University Press 2025
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collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Democracy is often described in two opposite ways, as either wonderfully resilient or dangerously fragile. Both characterizations can be correct, depending on the context. When Democracy Breaks aims to deepen our understanding of what separates democratic resilience from democratic fragility by focusing on the latter. The volume's collaborators--experts in the history and politics of the societies covered in their chapters--explore eleven episodes of democratic breakdown, from ancient Athens to Weimar Germany to present-day Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela. Strikingly, in every case, various forms of democratic erosion long preceded the final democratic breakdown. Although no single causal factor emerges as decisive, linking together all of the episodes, some important commonalities--including extreme political polarization, explicitly anti-democratic political actors, and significant political violence--stand out across the cases. Moreover, the notion of democratic culture, while admittedly difficult to define and even more difficult to measure, may play a role in all of them. Throughout the volume, the contributors show again and again that the written rules of democracy are insufficient to protect against tyranny. While each case of democratic decay is unique, the patterns that emerge shed much light on the continuing struggle to sustain modern democracies and to assess and respond to the threats they face.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1663622025-09-02T05:03:47Z When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day Fung, Archon Moss, David Westad, Odd Arne democracy, autocracy, tyranny, authoritarianism, fascism, backsliding, erosion, breakdown, culture of democracy, history thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHV Political structures: democracy thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPB Comparative politics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory Democracy is often described in two opposite ways, as either wonderfully resilient or dangerously fragile. Both characterizations can be correct, depending on the context. When Democracy Breaks aims to deepen our understanding of what separates democratic resilience from democratic fragility by focusing on the latter. The volume's collaborators--experts in the history and politics of the societies covered in their chapters--explore eleven episodes of democratic breakdown, from ancient Athens to Weimar Germany to present-day Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela. Strikingly, in every case, various forms of democratic erosion long preceded the final democratic breakdown. Although no single causal factor emerges as decisive, linking together all of the episodes, some important commonalities--including extreme political polarization, explicitly anti-democratic political actors, and significant political violence--stand out across the cases. Moreover, the notion of democratic culture, while admittedly difficult to define and even more difficult to measure, may play a role in all of them. Throughout the volume, the contributors show again and again that the written rules of democracy are insufficient to protect against tyranny. While each case of democratic decay is unique, the patterns that emerge shed much light on the continuing struggle to sustain modern democracies and to assess and respond to the threats they face. 2025-09-02T05:03:46Z 2025-09-02T05:03:46Z 2025-09-01T12:11:58Z 2024 book ONIX_20250901T140837_9780197760796_4 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/105873 9780197760796 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/166362 eng open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/105873/1/9780197760796.pdf Oxford University Press 10.1093/oso/9780197760789.001.0001 10.1093/oso/9780197760789.001.0001 db4e319f-ca9f-449a-bcf2-37d7c6f885b1 9780197760796 376 New York open access
spellingShingle democracy, autocracy, tyranny, authoritarianism, fascism, backsliding, erosion, breakdown, culture of democracy, history
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHV Political structures: democracy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPB Comparative politics
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory
When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day
title When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day
title_full When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day
title_fullStr When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day
title_full_unstemmed When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day
title_short When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day
title_sort when democracy breaks studies in democratic erosion and collapse from ancient athens to the present day
topic democracy, autocracy, tyranny, authoritarianism, fascism, backsliding, erosion, breakdown, culture of democracy, history
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHV Political structures: democracy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPB Comparative politics
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory
topic_facet democracy, autocracy, tyranny, authoritarianism, fascism, backsliding, erosion, breakdown, culture of democracy, history
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHV Political structures: democracy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPB Comparative politics
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory
url ONIX_20250901T140837_9780197760796_4