Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times: The Citizenry and the Breakdown of Democracy

by Nancy Bermeo

For generations, influential thinkers--often citing the tragic polarization that took place during Germany's Great Depression--have suspected that people's loyalty to democratic institutions erodes under pressure and that citizens gravitate toward antidemocratic extremes in times of political and economic crisis. But do people really defect from democracy when times get tough? Do ordinary people play a leading role in the collapse of popular government?


Based on extensive research, this book overturns the common wisdom. It shows that the German experience was exceptional, that people's affinity for particular political positions are surprisingly stable, and that what is often labeled polarization is the result not of vote switching but of such factors as expansion of the franchise, elite defections, and the mobilization of new voters. Democratic collapses are caused less by changes in popular preferences than by the actions of political elites who polarize themselves and mistake the actions of a few for the preferences of the many. These conclusions are drawn from the study of twenty cases, including every democracy that collapsed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in interwar Europe, every South American democracy that fell to the Right after the Cuban Revolution, and three democracies that avoided breakdown despite serious economic and political challenges.


Unique in its historical and regional scope, this book offers unsettling but important lessons about civil society and regime change--and about the paths to democratic consolidation today.

Genres: Politics, History, Political Science, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 2003

Reviews

[Samuel Kalergis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Democracies will only collapse if actors deliberately disassemble them an the key actors in this dissembling process are political elites

Bermeo repiensa el papel de la polarización en la caída de las democracias en Europa y Sudamérica. (1) no hay polarización en las votaciones ni en la opinión pública de la ciudadanía; (2) la polarización no es unidimensional sino multidimensional; (3) ineptitud de la elite política para: leer las preferencias de la ciudadanía y el poder/tamaño de las fuerzas anti-democráticas.

Si bien comparto el análisis de la autora, la selección de casos es bastante sesgada (solo selecciona casos en base a la variable dependiente de colapso democrático) y le falta más desarrollo a un argumento muy interesante en la conclusión: la fuerza y capacidad de las elites políticas de distanciarse de sectores radicales de la sociedad es la fórmula mágica para la estabilidad democrática.

What role ordinary people play in the making of popular government What role do they play in its collapse?

[Jonathan Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book and a must read for any student of democracy.