How to Save a Democracy

Foreign Affairs [unpaywalled] “Americans can learn from opponents of authoritarianism elsewhere. The first few weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency have accelerated a process of democratic erosion in the United States. In just two months, the president and his allies have issued executive orders of dubious constitutionality, violated the civil protections of federal workers, impinged on Congress’s powers over the budget, sidestepped and defied court rulings, used the Justice Department to punish opponents and protect loyalists, threatened to impeach judges who rule against the administration, weaponized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and immigration law to imprison and deport documented immigrants without due process, and allowed unappointed individuals an unprecedented (and potentially illegal) level of access and power over key agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Treasury Department, and the Education Department. Democratic erosion has not progressed as far in the United States as it has in many other countries, but that does not make the steps the Trump administration has taken any less concerning. At a minimum, democracies should afford citizens the opportunity to form and express their preferences and have them weighted equally in government. To do so, citizens must enjoy individual rights such as freedom of association, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement. Checks and balances exist to guarantee those rights. They are meant to prevent abuses that—under the guise of majoritarian support—could limit citizens’ ability to participate in government on an equal footing. The Trump administration’s willingness to bypass the law, defy courts, and weaponize state institutions to punish opponents threatens that political participation and, in doing so, threatens democracy.  For democracy to survive, it must be protected. In the past few decades, in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Poland, opposition groups pushed back successfully against leaders with authoritarian tendencies early in the process of democratic backsliding, when they still had institutional levers to pull. But in other cases, such as Bolivia, El Salvador, Turkey, and Venezuela, oppositions either failed to act with sufficient urgency or used tactics that lost them their institutional levers, gradually hindering their ability to resist. In the United States, the opposition’s response to the threat so far has been underwhelming. Reeling from electoral defeat and shocked by the blitz of the Trump administration’s power grabs, politicians and civil society groups are uncertain about the path forward and hesitant to take bold steps…”