The Decline of Democracy
 (and the Rise of Authoritarianism)
Spring, 2022



I. Democracy
and Authoritarianism Defined

II. The Foundations of American Democracy

III. American Democracy: the Experience

IV. The Fragility of American Institutions and Culture

V. Authoritarianism in America

VI. Problems Facing Our Democracy


Internet Resources

Freedom House -[A superb resource.]

Alexis de Toqueville,
Democracy in America

National Endowment for Democracy

Tom Christiano and Sameer Bajaj, "Democracy" - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philisophy

Amanda Taub, "The Rise of American Authoritarianism" -Vox.com, March 1, 2016

Melissa Morgan, "Understanding the Global Rise of Authoritarianism" -from Stanford University, November 8, 2021

The Summit for Democracy, 2021 -from the U.S. Department of State

Dana Milbank, "We Are Closer to Civil War Than Any of Us Would Like to Believe, 'New Study Says"  - The Washington Post, December 17, 2021

Jimmy Carter, "I Fear For Our Democracy" -from The New York Times, January 7, 2022

Robert Kagan, "The Strongmen Strike Back" - The Washington Post, March14, 2019

Richard H. Pildes, "Why So Many Democracies Are Floundering" - The New York Times, December 31, 2021

The Chicago Project on Security and Threats - January, 2022

Google Search for "Polling on American Democracy" -January 19, 2022

New York Times Articles on January 6, 2021 -January 7, 2022

"Authoritarianism" --Search results for the word in DuckDuckGo - January 12, 2022

List of Freedom Indices -from Wikipedia, updated 2022

Jennifer Rubin, "Democracy's Defenders Can't Just Win Elections.  They Must Also Campaign to Save Democracy -
from The Washington Post, January 27, 2022

Tyler Pager, "Trump Suggests That If He Is Reelected, He Will Pardon January 6, Capitol Rioters" -from The Washington Post,
January 29, 2022

Peter Wehner, "Biden Undermied Faith in Elections" -from The Atlantic, January 29, 2022

GOP Censure of Cheney and Kinzinger - February 4, 2022

"Ancient Greek Democracy" -from history.com

Google Search for "Defending Democracy" -February 19, 2022

Google Search for "Criticizing Democracy" -February 19, 2022

William A. Galston, "The New Axis of Autocracy" -from The Wall Street Journal, February 8, 2022

Fareed Zakaria, "Putin's War Reminds Us Why Liberal Democracy is Worth Defending" -from CNN, February 24, 2022

Thomas L. Friedman, "I See Three Scenarios for How This War Ends" -from The New York Times, Marh 1, 2022

"Tyranny, Democracy, and the Polity: Aristotle's Politics" -from Farnam Street Blog

David Brooks, "The Dark Century" -from The New York Times, February 17, 2022

"Eastman v. Thompson" -from storage.courtlistener.com -February 3, 2022

"The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule" -from freedomhouse.org - 2022

"Initiative and Referendum" -from Ballotpedia.com

"Democracy Index" -from the Economist Intelligence Unit -from Wikipedia

"Letter to the Editor" -from The Advocate, March 14, 2022

John Mearsheimer, "Why the West is Principally Responsible for the Ukrainian Crisis" -from The Economist, March 11, 2022

"Ranked Choice Voting" -from ballotpedia.org

"Ranked Choice Voting" -from fairvote.org

"Civic Education Policies: State Profile - Louisiana" -from the Education Commission of the States

"Where Does Democracy Go From Here?" -from The New York Times Magazine, March 17, 2020

Wolfram Entry for "democracy" -from wolframalpha.com
Wolfram Entry for "authoritarianism" -from wolframalpha.com

"The 21 Most Authoritarian Regimes in the World" -from wearethemighty.com
"The 30 Most Authoritarian Regimes in the World" -from businessinsider.com
[These reports are based on the Economist magazine's Intelligence Unit report.]

Our World in Data -A fantastic resource

"New Report: Authoritarian Rule Chalenging Democracy as Dominant World Model" -from freedomhouse.org, February 24, 2022)

"Authoritarian Rule Challenging Democracy as Dominant Global Model" -from Freedomhouse.org (February 24, 2022)

Richard Hofstadter, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" -from Harper's Magazine (November, 1964)

Michaell Luo, "America's Exclusionary Past and Present and the Judgment of History" -from The New Yorker, August 17, 2019

"Ben Rhodes on the Global Rise of Authoritarianism" -from the Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute, November 8, 2021

Matthew C. Macwilliams, "Trump is an Authoritarian.  So Are Millions of Americans" -from politico.com -from politico.com, September 23,
2020

Inequality.org -an impressive site

David Brooks, "Globalization is Over.  The Culture Wars Have Begun." -from The New York Times, April 8, 2022

Amy Davidson Sorkin, "The Ketanji Brown Jackson Hearings May Be Only the Beginning" -from The New Yorker, April 9, 2022

Sarah Shapiro and Catherine Brown, "The State of Civics Education" -from the Center for American Progress, February 21, 2018
[More on civics education from the Center for American Progress]

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The Electoral College
Amending the Electoral College: the 12th Amendment -from the National Archives

The Electoral College -from the National Association of State Legislatures

The Electoral College - from Justia

Legal Provisions Relating to the Electoral College -from the National Archives

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German Lopez, "Putin v. Democracy" -from The New York Times, February 27, 2022

Gillian Brockell, "Of the 700 Attempts to Fix the Electoral College, This One Nearly Succeeded" -from The Washington Post,
December 5, 2020
Note on the Amendment in Wikipedia
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