HOW TO SAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY

How do democracies fail?

Ranging across geography and time, How to Save a Constitutional Democracy presents a comprehensive account of the mechanisms through which democratic rule has come undone. From the beginning of the twentieth century, to the global resurgence of populism, it explains how the pathway of democratic failure has evolved. Turning to the present, it analyzes the ways in which many constitutions are vulnerable to democratic backsliding—and as importantly proposes an agenda of reforms that might stymie that process.

About the Author

TOM GINSBURG is the Leo Spitz Professor of International Law and Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, USA. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Judicial Reputation (2015), The Endurance of National Constitutions (2009), and Judicial Review in New Democracies (2003).

AZIZ Z. HUQ is the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, USA.

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1. Liberal Constitutional Democracy and Its Alternatives 6

2. Two Pathways from Liberal Constitutional Democracy 35

3. When Democracies Collapse 49

4. When Democracies Decay 68

5. Will American Democracy Persist? 120

6. Making Democratic Constitutions that Endure 164

7. Saving Democracy, American Style 205

Conclusion: On Fighting Democratic Erosion 237

Notes 247

Index 287