{"product_id":"the-origins-of-elected-strongmen-how-personalist-parties-destroy-democracy-from-within-9780198888079","title":"The Origins of Elected Strongmen: How Personalist Parties Destroy Democracy from Within","description":"Since the end of World War II, democracies typically fell apart by coup d'état or through force. Today, however, they are increasingly eroding at the hands of democratically elected incumbents, who seize control by slowly chipping away at democratic institutions. To better understand these developments, this book examines the role of personalist political parties, or parties that exist primarily to further their leader's career as opposed to promote a specific policy platform. Using original data capturing levels of personalism in the parties of democratically elected leaders from 1991 to 2020, \u003cem\u003eThe Origins of Elected Strongmen\u003c\/em\u003e shows that the rise of personalist parties around the globe is facilitating the decline of democracy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePersonalist parties lack both the incentive and capacity to push back against a leader's efforts to expand executive power. As such, leaders backed by personalist parties are more likely to succeed in their efforts to dismantle institutional constraints on their rule. Such attacks on state institutions, in turn, reverberate throughout society, deepening political polarization and weakening supporters' commitment to democratic norms of behaviour. In these ways, ruling party personalism erodes horizontal and vertical constraints on a leader, ultimately degrading democracy and raising the risk of democratic failure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eErica Frantz, \u003cem\u003eAssociate Professor, Michigan State University\u003c\/em\u003e, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, \u003cem\u003eSenior Fellow and Director of the Transatlantic Security Program, Center for a New American Security (CNAS)\u003c\/em\u003e, Joe Wright, \u003cem\u003eProfessor, Pennsylvania State University\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eErica Frantz\u003c\/strong\u003e is an associate professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. She specializes in authoritarian politics and the dynamics of political change. She has published seven books, 17 journal articles, and a wide array of policy reports and op-ed pieces. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAndrea Kendall-Taylor\u003c\/strong\u003e is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She works on national security challenges facing the United States and Europe, focusing on threats to democracy, Russia, and the state of the Transatlantic alliance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJoseph Wright\u003c\/strong\u003e is a professor of Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University. His research examines how global and international forces shape the prospects of democratization. This research has received external funding from numerous sources, including the National Science Foundation, the Minerva Research Initiative, and private foundations.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50893146030354,"sku":"9780198888079","price":104.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_597632e0-680e-43aa-80c1-9dd08d181ad0.jpg?v=1738223561","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-origins-of-elected-strongmen-how-personalist-parties-destroy-democracy-from-within-9780198888079","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}