Tyranny of the Minority

The institutional sequel to How Democracies Die. Levitsky and Ziblatt turn from the behavior of leaders to the rules of the game, and argue that features of the American system can let a political minority govern against the wishes of the majority, with no penalty at the polls. The book is a case for democratizing the democracy, for repairing the machinery so that majorities can actually govern and minorities cannot entrench themselves. Read it for the structural diagnosis the first book set up.

A political scientist of comparative democracy, co-author of two of the most widely read recent books on democratic decline. How Democracies Die argues that democracies now more often erode from within, through elected leaders, than fall to coups. Tyranny of the Minority examines how institutional rules can let a political minority govern against the majority. He studies backsliding as a process with warning signs.