Source: Washington Monthly
by Brian Kettenring
“Welcome to the topsy-turvy 21st century, where everything is upside down. Democracies exist that are not democracies, coups that are not coups. Gone, for the most part, are the twentieth century’s coups d’état that installed military dictators in place of legitimate governments; nothing so clean-cut or understandable belongs to our time. Today’s tyrants are more often elected presidents and prime ministers who subtly undermine representative governance from within, a phenomenon known as democratic backsliding. Once-proud democracies like Hungary and Turkey have slipped into long-term authoritarian rule; Poland seems to be shaking it off, for now; and the United States has begun an alarming and rapid slide of its own. What forces really drive this backsliding and what can be done about it?” (10/30/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/30/tyranny-is-downstream-from-the-economy/