Albright, former Secretary of State and author of Fascism: A Warning
‘Ill winds’ are indeed blowing-and Diamond has shown us how to weather and, ultimately, beat back the storm.” - Madeleine K. “From a scholar who has dedicated his life to studying liberal democracy comes a plan for its long-term preservation. “A leading scholar of democracy combines his academic research with his direct experience to piece together a wide-ranging study of the creation-and possible destruction-of that specific form of governance.… A potent mix of theory and practice…inspiring.” -Kirkus Rather than the outright coups of the past, democracy now suffers more discreetly… Political reforms, electoral design, campaign-financing legislation - these may not have the visceral appeal of debates over gun rights or taxation or the environment, but they are just as critical, even more so if we consider that a functional democracy is needed to tackle all our other challenges.”- Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post “ One of the world’s foremost experts on democracy and a professor at Stanford University, Diamond emphasizes that the declining quality of American democracy is only part of a broader downturn from Venezuela to Turkey to Hungary, to name a few egregious cases. “ important new book… galvanizing”- San Francisco Chronicle “Diamond succeeds in making a compelling case that the global assault on democracy is the single most important trend driving global events today…Diamond’s entire book should be read as a clarion call that we have reached a critical moment where the price of inaction will render democratic government not only ineffective, but increasingly defenseless.”- Foreign Policy His case is well made.” - Financial Times Diamond’s solution is for the US to launch a concerted-though not warlike-promotion of global democracy. “The question he poses is how to prevent the world’s democratic recession from turning into outright depression. Yet today he is aghast…In his impassioned book Ill Winds, he proves a stalwart, persuasive champion for democracy at a moment when its reputation has been fouled by Britain mauling itself with Brexit and by the United States electing someone as morally, intellectually and literally bankrupt as Donald Trump.” -Gary J. “ has spent 40 years circumnavigating the globe promoting democracy in Nigeria, Venezuela and some 70 other countries. In 2020, freedom’s last line of defense still remains “We the people.” Ill Winds offers concrete, deeply informed suggestions to fight polarization, reduce the influence of money in politics, and make every vote count. We can make the internet safe for liberal democracy, exploit the soft, kleptocratic underbelly of dictatorships, and revive America’s degraded democracy.
Free governments can defend their values free citizens can exercise their rights. We are at a hinge in history, between a new era of tyranny and an age of democratic renewal. If we do not reclaim our traditional place as the keystone of democracy, today’s authoritarian swell could become a tsunami, providing an opening for Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and their admirers to turn the twenty-first century into a dark time of despotism. Ill Winds’ core argument is stark: the defense and advancement of democratic ideals relies on U.S. Then, with Trump’s election at home, the global retreat from freedom spread from democracy’s margins to its heart. Deeply attuned to the cycles of democratic expansion and decay that determine the fates of nations, he watched with mounting unease as illiberal rulers rose in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, the Philippines, and beyond, while China and Russia grew increasingly bold and bullying. Larry Diamond has made it his life’s work to secure democracy’s future by understanding its past and by advising dissidents fighting autocracy around the world. *Shortlisted for the 2020 Arthur Ross Book Award*įrom America’s leading scholar of democracy, a personal, passionate call to action against the rising authoritarianism that challenges our world order-and the very value of liberty