Tyranny of the Minority

How to Reverse an Authoritarian Turn, and Forge a Democracy for All

By: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Brought to you by Penguin.

An urgent follow-up to international bestseller How Democracies Die, by two world-leading experts on democracy

In this razor-sharp analysis of one of the most important issues facing us today, leading Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt draw on their combined expertise of over 40 years to offer a dire warning about right-wing efforts to undermine multiracial democracy.

Exploring the 2024 American election and the Capitol riots, as well as global examples from history including post-1945 Germany and Brazil and Chile during the '60s and '70s, the authors show how ossified political conventions can be pernicious enablers of minority rule, creating a situation in which partisan minorities can consistently thwart and even rule over popular majorities.

With its urgent call for a radical reform of our antiquated institutions for the benefit of the majority, and a citizens' movement to put enough pressure on lawmakers to act before it's too late, Tyranny of the Minority is a must-listen for every participant in the emerging democratic reform movement.

©2023 Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Just like their previous work, this book is concise, readable, and convincing (Anne Applebaum)

Old democracies tend to last, and so do rich democracies, Levitsky and Ziblatt point out in this searing, unsettling, and essential new book, but American democracy, which is both old and rich, is dying. In Tyranny of the Minority, they explain why, and they explain, too, how to save it (Jill Lepore)