Blog Post #2 – How do democracies turn into dictatorships?

Hello everyone! Today I will be detailing my project plan for my inquiry question: How do democracies turn into dictatorships?

Research Rounds:

1. What is a democracy and what is a dictatorship? (Here I will provide concrete examples and explanations of the similarities and differences between these two systems of governance.)
2. What are some historical examples of powerful democracies falling into authoritarianism? (Here I will provide historical context and situations where incredibly influential and powerful democracies were toppled and turned to authoritarian regimes.)
3. How and why does a democratic country transition into a dictatorship? (Here I will outline the leading causes a country and its population begin to support an authoritarian regime, how a transition occurs, and what warning signs we should look for.)

Sources I might use:

https://freedomhouse.org/report/nations-transit/2022/from-democratic-decline-to-authoritarian-aggression

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/12/07/how-democracies-slide-into-authoritarianism/

https://diamond-democracy.stanford.edu/speaking/speeches/defending-liberal-democracy-slide-toward-authoritarianism

https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/10/20/understanding-and-responding-to-global-democratic-backsliding-pub-88173

https://time.com/5662653/democracy-history-latin-america/

https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/dilemma-democratization-fragile-states

I believe this inquiry project will greatly impact others and my community, as we are currently facing a pivotal time in our history. All around the world, it is plain to see that democracy is in crisis. In the United States, we have politicians that seem intent on overruling elections. In Israel, we have a president who is attempting to overthrow the government that he himself should be working with simply to maintain his power. And around the world, the expansion of Chinese and Russian influence has caused a landslide effect of diminishing personal freedoms and increasing anti-democratic sentiment. Unfortunately, with the insanely high amount of disinformation spouted from pro-authoritarian sources, we are entering an age where people no longer believe what they see, instead believing in what someone tells them. By completing this inquiry project, I hope I can educate students and make them aware of how they can recognize the signs of a failing democracy and how to work to prevent it. A drop in personal freedoms and autonomy hurts all of us, so being able to think individually and critically is integral if we want to make the right decisions.