How demagogues destroy democracy: A step-by-step global guide

Abstract

Disappointment and bitterness, mixed with envy and a desperate hope for a better future, are the night soil in which demagogues are hatched. But despite their populist bluster, demagogues are saboteurs of democracy, driven by an urge to ditch and destroy the checks and balances vital to restraining abuses of power. Unless checked, demagogues are the harbingers of a new, 21st-century form of despotism: a corrupted, phantom democracy in which periodic elections are held but the rich become super-rich and omnipotent—while most of the populace is gripped by feelings of powerlessness when it comes to the big decisions shaping everyday life.