Democracies can also fall into dictatorships when voters become politically apathetic, thereby withdrawing themselves from participation in the political process. This is a growing problem in many democracies, as indicated by falling voter turnouts across much of the democratic world. Voters may feel apathetic when they come to believe that they will no longer make a difference in average politics.
Voters may experience alienation when their political choices fail to reflect their democratic interests. This is particularly dangerous, as this presents an opportunity for authoritarian-minded political leaders to start curtailing political rights for minority groups, if not the entire national population. This can then start a backslide into dictatorship when the democratic voice becomes permanently suppressed, eliminating any kind of recourse against undemocratic policies such as voter suppression or encroachments onto free speech.
Hungary, as many political observers have noted over the past decade, is a profound case of democratic decline towards illiberalism, if not an outright march towards authoritarianism. Since , Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his political party, Fidesz, have dominated Hungarian politics through a combination of populist demagoguery and pernicious political engineering which have ensured repeated electoral success over the past three election cycles.
These upheavals caused mass unemployment, creating a sense of resentment to the social-democratic and liberal parties whose policies led to the situation. Orban has also repeatedly attacked international and European institutions in Hungary while expressing a vitriolic attitude towards economic and political globalism.
Fidesz has maintained a tight grip on Hungarian politics over the past decade, despite spirited attempts by the opposition to eject the right-wing party from power. Orban and his party have successfully established a stranglehold on the institutions of government, having taken control of the courts , revised the Hungarian constitution , and gerrymandered the electoral districts to favor their party.
Perhaps now more than ever, citizens in democratic countries must work to prevent the encroachment of dictatorial politics into democracies.
We must do more than just simply understand past historical examples of democratic decline; we must go further and make sure these historical examples do not happen again.
The first step is to recommit to democratic principles and embrace them wholeheartedly. Strongmen often turn their ireful gaze onto many different groups, including minorities, immigrants, the political opposition, and established national leaders; strongmen tend to view these groups as both personal and national enemies.
Strongmen need to be stopped at the polls. Elections tend to affirm strongmen by giving them a popular mandate for their regime, but their respect for democracy ends the day after the election. Beating strongmen means not giving them a position of power to abuse in the first place, or by denying them a mandate and voting them out of power. Ultimately, the best way to protect democracies against becoming a dictatorship is to continue embracing democratic practices.
Voters need to make conscientious electoral choices that reject candidates or political groups that threaten to undermine the democratic process. Maintaining democracy requires voters to become yet more steadfast in their empathy towards others and participating in national politics with a frame of mind towards cooperation and understanding. The Renew Democracy Initiative, Inc is a c 3 not-for-profit organization. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
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Ways Dictators Come to Power in a Democracy Dictators may rise to power in a democracy through several ways. Political Radicalization and Social Desperation Democracies are characterized by lively but peaceful debate between a variety of political parties and interest groups. Representatives of the Nazi Party first two left , German Centrist Party middle , the Social Democratic Party middle-right , and the Communist Party far right canvassing before the Elections, the last free elections before the rise of Nazi Germany.
Credit: HistoryToday After six years of recovery and even some economic prosperity for Germany, the Great Depression of once again threw Weimar Germany in a desperate economic state, prompting many German voters to seek radical political options, including National Socialism.
Apathetic and Alienated Voters Democracies can also fall into dictatorships when voters become politically apathetic, thereby withdrawing themselves from participation in the political process. Hungary Hungary, as many political observers have noted over the past decade, is a profound case of democratic decline towards illiberalism, if not an outright march towards authoritarianism.
Credit: BBC. List of Dictatorships Which Arose from Democracies Poland: Germany: Austria: France: Spain: Brazil: Chile: Nicaragua: , Present Venezuela: Present How to Stop Dictatorships From Coming to Power in a Democracy Perhaps now more than ever, citizens in democratic countries must work to prevent the encroachment of dictatorial politics into democracies.
Democracy with Danny. OUR team. Twitter Instagram Linkedin Facebook Youtube. Join the Frontlines of Freedom! Subscribe to hear more about our dissidents and new RDI content. First Name. Last Name. Mobile Phone. Postal Code. Historian Gerald D. Feldman reported that gangs of unemployed coal miners plundered the countryside, because farmers refused to trade their produce for worthless paper money.
The government enacted rent controls that limited the ability of landlords to recover their costs and discouraged developers from building more apartments.
So cities borrowed from foreign lenders to build housing that lost money. Much scientific research became financially impossible, too. Each received a bag full of paper notes. According to the figures inscribed on them, the paper notes amounted to seven hundred thousand or five hundred million, or three hundred and eighty billion, or eighteen trillion marks — the figures rose from month to month, then from week to week, finally from day to day.
People dashed to the nearest food stores where lines had already formed. When they reached the stores, a pound of sugar, for example, might have been obtainable for two million marks; but by the time they came to the counter all they could get for two million marks was a half-pound.
Everybody scrambled for things that would keep until the next pay-day. How much hostility is daily directed against that portion of the employed German people with civil service status is shown by the press and also even by those parties which previously supported the civil service and now press for a reduction of the civil service.
Altogether, during the inflation, Hitler recruited some 50, Nazis and became a political force to reckon with. To be sure, he attempted a coup that failed November 8, , and he was imprisoned. But he retained his key followers and wrote his venomous memoir Mein Kampf that became the Nazi bible. During the late s, the German economy began to recover, and there was less interest in the Nazis. In the Reichstag legislature elections, they won only 2.
If good times had continued, Hitler might have been forgotten. He needed another crisis for a shot at gaining political power. The crisis came as a succession of misguided policies created obstacles to enterprise and brought on the Great Depression. The government promoted deflation. It fixed prices at above-market levels that discouraged consumers from buying, and it fixed wages at above-market levels that discouraged employers from hiring.
Government-sanctioned cartels restricted competition. High taxes made it harder for people to save and invest. High tariffs throttled trade. When German producers were able to export goods, they had difficulty collecting payment because of exchange controls. All these policies made it harder for the economy to grow. As the number of unemployed went up, more Germans voted for the Nazis, and the number of Nazi members went up again. Hitler maintained non-stop agitation for power. He travelled constantly, giving speeches throughout Germany.
He wanted his opponents destroyed, so he demonized them. He accused them of being traitors. Two Nazi paramilitary organizations, the S. This attracted more thugs who liked violence and were good at it. Every night, there were Nazi rallies and marches. He proceeded to consolidate unlimited power before anybody realized what was happening. He took over a large welfare state. It had been created by the autocratic chancellor Otto von Bismarck, it expanded rapidly during World War I and gained total control of the economy.
War-related private businesses were turned into government bureaucracies. The government shut down private businesses that officials considered unnecessary. There was forced labor, and nobody could change jobs without government permission. The Allies directed the dismantling of the German war machine, but a government-run economy substantially survived. Although Hitler echoed Soviet-style central economic planning with a Four Year Plan, his method was suffocating regulation rather than outright expropriation.
There was nominal private ownership but government control. He dealt with unemployment by introducing forced labor for both men and women.
Government control of the economy made it virtually impossible for anyone to seriously threaten his regime. Hitler added secret police, death camps and another war machine. The German educational system, which had inspired so many American progressives, played a major role in all this. During the previous century, the government grained complete control of schools and universities, and their top priority was teaching obedience.
The professorial elite promoted collectivism. The highest calling was working for the government. This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here. More From Forbes. Aug 30, , pm EDT.
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