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Democracy under pressure: historical lessons for current challenges?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2022

Svend-Erik Skaaning Open the ORCID record for Svend-Erik Skaaning [Opens in a new window]
Svend-Erik Skaaning*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 7, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
*
Corresponding author. Email: skaaning@ps.au.dk
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Abstract

A review of three books shows that the crisis of democracy literature is exceptionally diverse. It ranges from overconfident postulations and proposals without systematic arguments and comparative analysis on the one hand to novel theorizing and balanced accounts, including cautious use of historical evidence, on the other hand. Accordingly, there is much variation in how much the different contributions succeed in drawing lessons from historical developments to better understand and reduce contemporary challenges.

Keywords

authoritarianismconflictdemocracypolarizationpopulism
Type
Review Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , July 2023 , pp. 239 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Società Italiana di Scienza Politica

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