Apr 5, 2018
Questions about democracy have been front and center in the United
States, especially since the 2016 election. What is the state of
democracy both in the United States and around the globe? How are
our democratic institutions faring in the modern age — especially
given new and emerging threats like “fake news?” In this episode,
Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang discuss the overall health of democracy
— and whether it’s in danger — with Steven Levitsky, professor of
government at Harvard University, and co-author of “How Democracies
Die,” with Daniel Ziblatt. Levitsky’s research interests include
political parties, authoritarianism and democratization, and weak
and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America. In
addition to “How Democracies Die,” he is author of “Transforming
Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in
Comparative Perspective” (2003), co-author (with Lucan Way) of
“Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War”
(2010), and co-editor of “Argentine Democracy: The Politics of
Institutional Weakness” (2005); “Informal Institutions and
Democracy: Lessons from Latin America” (2006); and “The Resurgence
of the Left in Latin America” (2011). He is currently engaged in
research on the durability of revolutionary regimes, the
relationship between populism and competitive authoritarianism,
problems of party-building in contemporary Latin America and party
collapse and its consequences for democracy in Peru.