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ctepen's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Helpful to understand how we’ve gotten to this point with such a small minority ruling over over the majority in the Congress, the Presidency, & the Supreme Court. It’s interesting to hear how other countries have dealt with rule of the the minority, while our misled belief that we be very reluctant to update our Constitution because it was created by the “infallible” founding fathers has caused us to be surpassed by other nations, to the point that we are now at severe risk of losing our democracy. It was interesting to hear that our Constitution is one of the hardest to amend in all modern democracies. The U.S. now receives low scores for our democratic health on the world stage, and we must act now before it’s too late. At the end of the book, the authors provide reasonable solutions to strengthen our democracy, including shoring up voting rights and adding term limits to the Supreme Court.
starsbythepocketful24's review
5.0
Lays out problems facing America at this time in a well thought out manner and includes relevant solutions to these problems. It shows historical examples from other countries who have dealt with these issues and how they survived (or didn’t) as well. An important and worthwhile read.
megankass's review
5.0
Me: what's going on in Washington is crazy! I can't believe what's happening.
Levitsky & Ziblatt: actually, this was fairly predictable.
Me: what????!!!
Two polysci professors explain how the American Constitution was set up to give extra privileges to states with smaller, minority-opinions in order to maintain the alliance against England and the cascade of effects that have led to the present day nightmare. They also compare our situation with democratic erosions in other countries since the 1900s, from Germany to Thailand and beyond. Hungary was a particularly relevant example and hopefully not a preview of 47.
The writing was very compelling and well-paced. The examples were well researched and presented. My only complaint would be that the reader had to have faith that the authors were telling you this information for a reason and that the relevance would become clear later. Which did consistently happen, but it would have been nice to have more setups interwoven into the narrative. For example, we spent a lot of time talking about Thailand's democracy before they tied it into how pro-democratic forces slowly change sides with unexpected economic shifts. It eventually made total sense and it was a helpful comparison, but it took a long time to realize why it was relevant.
Levitsky & Ziblatt: actually, this was fairly predictable.
Me: what????!!!
Two polysci professors explain how the American Constitution was set up to give extra privileges to states with smaller, minority-opinions in order to maintain the alliance against England and the cascade of effects that have led to the present day nightmare. They also compare our situation with democratic erosions in other countries since the 1900s, from Germany to Thailand and beyond. Hungary was a particularly relevant example and hopefully not a preview of 47.
The writing was very compelling and well-paced. The examples were well researched and presented. My only complaint would be that the reader had to have faith that the authors were telling you this information for a reason and that the relevance would become clear later. Which did consistently happen, but it would have been nice to have more setups interwoven into the narrative. For example, we spent a lot of time talking about Thailand's democracy before they tied it into how pro-democratic forces slowly change sides with unexpected economic shifts. It eventually made total sense and it was a helpful comparison, but it took a long time to realize why it was relevant.
tonybsg's review
5.0
Excellent overview of Constitutional democracies and the ways the US Constitution and its institutions enable and empower minority factions to exert power and impose their will on the majority--along with guidance for a path forward to correct the ways that US democracy is decidedly undemocratic and does not live up to its own stated ideals.