Tyranny of the Minority

Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

By: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A call to reform our antiquated political institutions before it’s too late—from the authors of How Democracies Die

“[Levitsky and Ziblatt] write with terrifying clarity about how the forces of the right have co-opted the enshrined rules to exert their tyranny.”—The Washington Post

ONE OF THE CALIFORNIA REVIEW OF BOOKS’ TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A NEWSWEEK BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

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 democracy under assault here, and not in other wealthy, diversifying nations? And what can we do to save it?

With the clarity and brilliance that made their first book, How Democracies Die, a global bestseller, Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt offer a coherent framework for understanding these volatile times. They draw on a wealth of examples—from 1930s France to present-day Thailand—to explain why and how political parties turn against democracy. They then show how our Constitution makes us uniquely vulnerable to attacks from within: 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 Most modern democracies—from Germany and Sweden to Argentina and New Zealand—have eliminated outdated institutions like elite upper chambers, indirect elections, and lifetime tenure for judges.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.

In this revelatory book, Levitsky and Ziblatt issue an urgent call to reform our politics. It’s a daunting task, but we have remade our country before—most notably, after the Civil War and during the Progressive Era. And now we are at a crossroads: America will either become a multiracial democracy or cease to be a democracy at all.

©2023 Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A minority of voters can now inflict a legislative wallop of racism, sexism, nativism, homophobia, transphobia, and economic misery on the rest of us—and never have to pay for it at the polls. This is the ‘tyranny of the minority’ that Levitsky and Ziblatt rightly fear. No lawless strongman or populist autocracy, it’s a product of the very Constitution that we have been taught to admire.”—The New Yorker

“Why has American democracy come so close to a breaking point while other Western democracies appear more stable? In this sobering study, Levitsky and Ziblatt blame the United States’ eighteenth-century constitutional order for its modern democratic woes.”—Foreign Affairs

“[Daniel] Ziblatt and [Steven] Levitsky are two of America’s very best comparative political scientists, with expertise that makes them uniquely well-equipped for the subject they’re examining. . . . Tyranny of the Minority is one of the best guides out there to the crisis of American democracy.”—Vox

Excellent information. Excellent proposal

How is it possible? That being the largest democracy in the world, we are the only one that has this electoral college voting system. Incredible!!!!

Inspiration for Change

I think this should be required reading/listening for every voter or soon to be voter. I learned that we almost got rid of the electoral college a few decades ago, but the bill always go to the Senate to die. The Senate is a very counter-democratic body. Other democracies in the world have adapted, but ours has not. The Constitution is not a sacred document written by infallible people, it can & should be changed

Excellent!

The authors used history & comparison with other democracies around the world to explain why our current political situation has been allowed to evolve. The deliberate manipulation of thought around our constitution being a “perfect” document left room for Trump to push us to the edge. We need to work with young people to fix our thinking & repair our democracy.

Cuts Through the Fog of Political Disinformation

The authors take a historical approach to understanding democratic political systems. If you're able to set aside partisan thought processes then this book will illuminate the, often times, fallible development of modern democracies.

provides clarity on broken American democracy

This is easily the most thought-provoking book on American politics that I have read in the last decade. The authors brilliantly connected key structural, anti-majoritarian aspects of American politics to the failure of electoral majorities to result in governing majorities. This book was a real light bulb moment for me.

Dense with relevant information

Critical compendium for those trying to understand what is happening in our democracy. The feeling of not being heard,nor having an influence with a single vote, is real if that vote is outside of the prevailing power center.

its historical accuracy. well written and provides solutions to our current national policy emercency

Nothing, this is the best book I have listen to I'm all these years.

Truth telling

This is an excellent exposition of the status of our democracy today. The title tells it all

The ease of which our Democracy could slide into authoritarian dictatorship under someone like Trump

I like the entirety of it, I was kinda shocked to hear how antiquated our Constitution is and how hard it is to Amend

A Trumpian world?

Most likely the most important read for every American between now and November 2024....and beyond.