Daniel Ziblatt – författare

Donald Trumps presidentmandat har väckt en fråga som många av oss aldrig trodde att vi skulle ställa: Är den amerikanska demokratin i fara? Steven Levitsky och Daniel Ziblatt, som har ägnat mer än tjugo år åt att studera demokratiers sammanbrott i Europa och Latinamerika, menar att svaret är ja. Demokratier går inte längre under i en revolution eller en militärkupp utan genom en långsam, ihållande försvagning av livsviktiga institutioner som domstolsväsen och medier, och en gradvis urholkning av etablerade politiska normer. Med utgångspunkt i flera decenniers forskning och med en lång rad historiska och globala exempel, från 1930-talets Europa till nutidens Ungern, Turkiet och Venezuela, klarlägger Levitsky och Ziblatt hur demokratier dör - och hur de kan räddas.Så dör demokratier har fått stor internationell uppmärksamhet och ges här ut i svensk översättning, med ett förord av Johannes Lindvall, professor i statsvetenskap vid Lunds universitet.

'The most important book of the Trump era' The EconomistHow does a democracy die?What can we do to save our own?What lessons does history teach us? In the 21st century democracy is threatened like never before. Drawing insightful lessons from across history - from Pinochet's murderous Chilean regime to Erdogan's quiet dismantling in Turkey - Levitsky and Ziblatt explain why democracies fail, how leaders like Trump subvert them today and what each of us can do to protect our democratic rights.'This book looks to history to provide a guide for defending democratic norms when they are under threat, and finds that it is possible to fight back.' David Runciman 'A useful primer on the importance of norms, institutional restraints and civic participation in maintaining a democracy - and how quickly those things can erode when we're not paying attention' President Barack Obama 'A must-read' Andrew Marr, Sunday Times'The greatest of the many merits of Levitsky and Ziblatt's How Democracies Die is their rejection of western exceptionalism. They tell inspiring stories I had not heard before' Nick Cohen, Observer'Provocative, timely. One of my favourite reads this year' Elif Shafak'Anyone who is concerned about the future of democracy should read this brisk, accessible book. Anyone who is not concerned should definitely read it' Daron Acemoglu, co-author of Why Nations Fail

THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED FOLLOW-UP TO INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE – essential reading ahead of the 2024 US election‘Tyranny of the Minority is an exceptional book, one of the best guides out there to the crisis of American democracy’ Zack Beauchamp, Vox–-------------------------------------How has democracy become so threatened – and what can we do to save it?With the clarity and brilliance that made their first book, How Democracies Die, a global bestseller, leading Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt offer a coherent new framework for understanding the dangerous times we live in. They draw on a wealth of examples – from the Capitol riots to Edwardian Britain, from 1930s France to present-day Thailand – to explore right-wing efforts to undermine the very foundations of the American political system, and to explain why and how political parties turn against democracy.With its attention on factors from election losses to demographic change and voting rights, its urgent call for a reform of our politics to balance the need for majority rule with the need for minority protections, and a citizens’ movement to put enough pressure on lawmakers to act before it’s too late, Tyranny of the Minority is a must-read for everyone keen to see more vibrant democracy – and to understand where future threats may come from.–-------------------------------------‘Just like their previous work, this book is concise, readable, and convincing’ Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy‘An exceptionally perceptive and wide-ranging book . . . [that lays] out an ambitious fifteen-plank project of democratic renewal’ Lawrence Douglas, TLS

How do democracies form and what makes them die? Daniel Ziblatt revisits this timely and classic question in a wide-ranging historical narrative that traces the evolution of modern political democracy in Europe from its modest beginnings in 1830s Britain to Adolf Hitler's 1933 seizure of power in Weimar Germany. Based on rich historical and quantitative evidence, the book offers a major reinterpretation of European history and the question of how stable political democracy is achieved. The barriers to inclusive political rule, Ziblatt finds, were not inevitably overcome by unstoppable tides of socioeconomic change, a simple triumph of a growing middle class, or even by working class collective action. Instead, political democracy's fate surprisingly hinged on how conservative political parties - the historical defenders of power, wealth, and privilege - recast themselves and coped with the rise of their own radical right. With striking modern parallels, the book has vital implications for today's new and old democracies under siege.

Germany's and Italy's belated national unifications continue to loom large in contemporary debates. Often regarded as Europe's paradigmatic instances of failed modernization, the two countries form the basis of many of our most prized theories of social science. Structuring the State undertakes one of the first systematic comparisons of the two cases, putting the origins of these nation-states and the nature of European political development in new light. Daniel Ziblatt begins his analysis with a striking puzzle: Upon national unification, why was Germany formed as a federal nation-state and Italy as a unitary nation-state? He traces the diplomatic maneuverings and high political drama of national unification in nineteenth-century Germany and Italy to refute the widely accepted notion that the two states' structure stemmed exclusively from Machiavellian farsightedness on the part of militarily powerful political leaders. Instead, he demonstrates that Germany's and Italy's "founding fathers" were constrained by two very different pre-unification patterns of institutional development.In Germany, a legacy of well-developed sub-national institutions provided the key building blocks of federalism. In Italy, these institutions' absence doomed federalism. This crucial difference in the organization of local power still shapes debates about federalism in Italy and Germany today. By exposing the source of this enduring contrast, Structuring the State offers a broader theory of federalism's origins that will interest scholars and students of comparative politics, state-building, international relations, and European political history.

How do democracies form and what makes them die? Daniel Ziblatt revisits this timely and classic question in a wide-ranging historical narrative that traces the evolution of modern political democracy in Europe from its modest beginnings in 1830s Britain to Adolf Hitler's 1933 seizure of power in Weimar Germany. Based on rich historical and quantitative evidence, the book offers a major reinterpretation of European history and the question of how stable political democracy is achieved. The barriers to inclusive political rule, Ziblatt finds, were not inevitably overcome by unstoppable tides of socioeconomic change, a simple triumph of a growing middle class, or even by working class collective action. Instead, political democracy's fate surprisingly hinged on how conservative political parties - the historical defenders of power, wealth, and privilege - recast themselves and coped with the rise of their own radical right. With striking modern parallels, the book has vital implications for today's new and old democracies under siege.