Pitt Family Foundation Speaker Series: Professor Steven Levitsky

America is undergoing a massive experiment: it is moving, in fits and starts, toward a multiracial democracy, something few societies have ever done. But the prospect of change has sparked an authoritarian backlash that threatens the very foundations of our political system. Why is this happening here, and not in other diversifying nations? And what can we do to save our democracy?
Harvard professor Steven Levitsky offers a coherent framework for understanding these volatile times. Drawing on a wealth of examples from 1930s France to present-day Thailand, he presents his theory on why and how political parties turn against democracy: when political leaders realize they can no longer win at the ballot box, they begin to attack the system from within, condoning violent extremists and using the law as a weapon. According to Levitsky, our Constitution makes us uniquely vulnerable. It is a pernicious enabler of minority rule, allowing partisan minorities to consistently thwart and even rule over popular majorities. Most modern democracies-from Germany and Sweden to Argentina and New Zealand-have eliminated outdated institutions like elite upper chambers, indirect elections, and lifetime tenure for judges. The United States lags dangerously behind.