September 20, 2024
The Origins of Elected Strongmen: How Personalist Parties Destroy Democracy from Within
This week, CNAS hosted the book launch for The Origins of Elected Strongmen: How Personalist Parties Destroy Democracy from Within, a new book by Dr. Joseph Wright, Dr. Erica Frantz, and Dr. Andrea Kendall-Taylor. Moderated by Susan Glasser, this event discusses how democracies around the world are being weakened by the actions and efforts of their elected leaders, and how the rise of personalism in democratic politics has become the key culprit for democracy’s ills. Even in democratic systems, leaders are taking on outsized influence relative to the parties that support them to dismantle institutional checks on the executive, deepen political polarization, and weaken supporters’ commitment to democratic norms of behavior leading to democratic backsliding and collapse.
Susan Glasser is a Staff Writer at The New Yorker, where she writes a weekly column on life in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, she served as the founding editor of POLITICO Magazine, the editor of POLITICO, and the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy.
Erica Frantz is an Associate Professor in Political Science at Michigan State University, where she focuses on authoritarian politics and the security and policy implications of autocratic rule.
Joseph Wright is a Professor of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University. There, he examines how international factors influence autocratic rule and democratization.
More from CNAS
-
Splitting the Atom on U.S. Nuclear Strategy
Earlier this year, the Biden administration revised its nuclear strategy, the nuclear employment guidance, which is updated approximately every four years. This time, however,...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Jim Townsend, James Acton & Jon B. Wolfsthal
-
Sharper: Drones on the Battlefield
From the battlefields of Libya to Nagorno-Karabakh to Ukraine, the deployment of drones has become a critical element of modern warfare. Will the explosion of unmanned aerial ...
By Anna Pederson & Molly Campbell
-
Germany's Historic Elections and What Comes Next
Germany is currently at a critical juncture, balancing numerous challenges both at home and abroad. Just last weekend, populist parties including the far-right AfD scored subs...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Jim Townsend, Daniela Schwarzer & Christopher Schuetze
-
Why Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran are teaming up
Probably the most surprising thing about the war in Ukraine is that Russia is getting a ton of help. North Korea and Iran are sending it millions of rounds of ammunition and l...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor