Backsliding

by Stephan Haggard, Robert Kaufman

Assaults on democracy are increasingly coming from the actions of duly elected governments, rather than coups. Backsliding examines the processes through which elected rulers weaken checks on executive power, curtail political and civil liberties, and undermine the integrity of the electoral system. Drawing on detailed case studies, including the United States and countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa, the book focuses on three, inter-related causal the pernicious effects of polarization; realignments of party systems that enable elected autocrats to gain legislative power; and the incremental nature of derogations, which divides oppositions and keeps them off balance. A concluding chapter looks at the international context of backsliding and the role of new technologies in these processes. An online appendix provides detailed accounts of backsliding in 16 countries, which can be found at www.cambridge.org/backsliding.

Genres: Politics, Political Science, School

102 pages, Paperback

Published February 11, 2021

Reviews

[Clay Wescott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This timely work analyzes 16 cases of nations that have gone through an incremental process of worsening democratic institutions, rules, and norms while stretching the limits of executive power. The cases cover 4 continents and economies ranging from the USA to Zambia. Backsliding occurs in different forms. Taking the three essentials of democracy: free elections, protection of basic rights, and separation of powers, some cases begin with a weakening of one component, setting the stage for the assault of the next one. These incremental changes are a slippery slope that may go largely unnoticed by citizens because of their initial small scale and ambiguities. When citizens realize what has happened, it may be too late to go back.

Backsliding can start with a combination of ethnic, religious, and racial cleavages and regime dysfunction leading to a market for appeals that democracy isn’t working. Grievances can also arise from slowdowns in the economy, rising inequality, and differences between cosmopolitan and nationalist worldviews. In the cases studied here, leaders are elected based on such appeals, pitting “us” against “them”.

The speed and scale of the backsliding vary across the cases. In Hungary, for example, the absence of coercion and repression was very different from the cases of Russia and Venezuela, perhaps providing a cover to avoid sanctions from the EU. Indeed, international forces can play a key role both in amplifying and restraining backsliding. Current and potential autocrats look to their peers for successful tools, tips, and practices. They manage information by exploiting polarization, bias, and inattention, taking advantage of a flood of unvetted disinformation, obfuscation, and hate speech that undermines discourse based on facts and standards of evidence. This takes place using online platforms built on business models that encourage these practices because they are so profitable. Informational autocrats send and endorse messages without any credible evidence stressing performance and public service, while they in fact transfer public resources to a small group of rich cronies. The authors offer an online appendix longer than the book itself with extensive details on their methodology and country cases, see .

[Anna Crea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un'ottima analisi sull'argomento. Abbastanza tecnica, di difficile comprensione forse per le persone non addette ai lavori. La letteratura sulla crisi democratica si è comunque evoluta oltre il concetto di backsliding, soprattutto in Europa. Infatti è interessante notare come l'Ungheria di Orbàn risulti ancora una democrazia secondo alcuni indicatori. Servono sicuramente nuovi parametri per studiare i cambiamenti politici contemporanei al di là della dicotomia autocrazia/democrazia.

[évan · Rating 3 out of 5]

WHY NO INDEX?! This is a common occurrence in the Cambridge Elements series and it is annoying af especially since it is supposed to be a series of *rudimentary introductions* to research topics.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

For uni (Comparative Political Systems course)

[MJ Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder what they would say now lol