Includes index.

In How Democracies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt analyze the demise of Latin American and European democracies throughout the twentieth century, as well as American political crises, to evaluate the potential for democratic collapse in the United States. The authors argue that American democracy is not exceptional, and that the Constitution alone is not sufficient to preserve it. Democracy depends, as it has across the globe, on established political norms, gatekeeping, and alliances that transcend polarization. By illustrating how the election of an authoritarian ruler can lead to the gradual breakdown of the system meant to rein him in, and by drawing parallels to the election of Donald Trump, Levitsky and Ziblatt offer compelling proof that democratic values in America are under threat. In response to this threat, they call for America to reestablish the norms that have undergirded its democracy throughout history.