A review of The Failure of Presidential Democracy, edited by Juan J. Linz and Arturo Valenzuela.
About the Author
Matthew Soberg Shugart, associate professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, is the coauthor of Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics (1992).
With illiberal forces ascendant across the globe, protecting individual liberties and the democratic process is crucial. But when institutions empower minority groups over the majority, can democracy survive?
The case of Hungary shows how autocrats can rig elections legally, using legislative majorities to change the law and neutralize the opposition at every turn, no matter what strategy they…
