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English
Oxford University Press
04 July 2024
Since the end of World War II, democracies typically fell apart by coup d'état or through force.

Today, however, they are increasingly eroding at the hands of democratically elected incumbents, who seize control by slowly chipping away at democratic institutions. To better understand these developments, this book examines the role of personalist political parties, or parties that exist primarily to further their leader's career as opposed to promote a specific policy platform. Using original data capturing levels of personalism in the parties of democratically elected leaders from 1991 to 2020, The Origins of Elected Strongmen shows that the rise of personalist parties around the globe is facilitating the decline of democracy. Personalist parties lack both the incentive and capacity to push back against a leader's efforts to expand executive power. As such, leaders backed by personalist parties are more likely to succeed in their efforts to dismantle institutional constraints on their rule. Such attacks on state institutions, in turn, reverberate throughout society, deepening political polarization and weakening supporters' commitment to democratic norms of behaviour. In these ways, ruling party personalism erodes horizontal and vertical constraints on a leader, ultimately degrading democracy and raising the risk of democratic failure.
By:   , , , , , ,
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 240mm,  Width: 162mm,  Spine: 20mm
Weight:   520g
ISBN:   9780198888079
ISBN 10:   0198888074
Pages:   240
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Erica Frantz is an associate professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. She specializes in authoritarian politics and the dynamics of political change. She has published seven books, 17 journal articles, and a wide array of policy reports and op-ed pieces. Andrea Kendall-Taylor is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She works on national security challenges facing the United States and Europe, focusing on threats to democracy, Russia, and the state of the Transatlantic alliance. Joseph Wright is a professor of Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University. His research examines how global and international forces shape the prospects of democratization. This research has received external funding from numerous sources, including the National Science Foundation, the Minerva Research Initiative, and private foundations.

Reviews for The Origins of Elected Strongmen: How Personalist Parties Destroy Democracy from Within

While many have pointed to populism or polarization as the source of democratic decline, The Origins of Elected Strongmen takes a different approach, arguing that the real culprits are the modern political parties that have become personal fiefdoms. A refreshing, thought-provoking analysis. * Anne Applebaum, Author and staff writer at The Atlantic * The fantastic trio of Frantz, Kendall-Taylor, and Wright have delivered again! The Origins of Elected Strongman is a must reading for anyone who wants to understand democratic decline and collapse today. While many accounts of democratic decline point to populism or polarization as the main triggers of incumbent takeovers, The Origins of Elected Strongmen shows the key role of political institutions - specifically incumbent political parties - in paving the way for leaders to dismantle democracy. Where these parties are personalist, it is a red flag for democracy. And tragically, there are too many of these kinds of parties in too many important democracies today. * Mike McFaul, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University *


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