How Democracies Gradually Adopt Authoritarian Tactics

3 hours ago7 min read

Democracies rarely collapse in a single, dramatic coup; their erosion is a far more insidious process, a gradual decay that unfolds through a series of small, seemingly trivial steps that only become consequential in retrospect, once accumulated social pressures push citizens toward conformity. This slow-motion descent into authoritarianism rarely announces itself with tanks in the streets but rather with the quiet, methodical subversion of democratic norms and institutions.We see this pattern echoed throughout history, from the legalistic dismantling of the Weimar Republic that paved the way for the Third Reich to the more contemporary examples in nations like Hungary and Turkey, where elected leaders have systematically co-opted the judiciary, muzzled the free press, and rewritten electoral rules to cement their power. The initial steps are often popular, framed as necessary for national security or economic stability—a new surveillance law here, a marginal tweak to parliamentary procedure there.Each measure is defensible in isolation, a pragmatic solution to a perceived crisis, but collectively they form a ratchet, closing the space for dissent and normalizing executive overreach. The role of the media becomes paramount in this context; as independent voices are delegitimized as 'enemies of the people' and state-controlled narratives take hold, the public's ability to hold power accountable withers.Furthermore, the polarization of the electorate is a key accelerant, where political opponents are no longer seen as rivals but as existential threats, justifying the use of any means to prevent their victory. This creates a fertile ground for the 'big lie,' a repeated falsehood that undermines the very legitimacy of democratic processes and prepares the populace to accept extraordinary measures.The great paradox, as political thinkers from Churchill to contemporary scholars have noted, is that the tools of authoritarianism are often wielded by those who were democratically elected, using the letter of the law to violate its spirit. The citizenry, initially complacent, often fails to recognize the threat until the cumulative weight of these incremental changes becomes a suffocating reality, a lesson from which no modern democracy, including those in the United States and the European Union, should consider itself immune. The battle for democracy is not won in a single election but in the daily, vigilant defense of its foundational principles against the slow, corrosive drip of expediency and fear.

#authoritarianism

#democratic erosion

#political science

#social pressure

#featured

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