In a book written in 1978,
The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes
, Juan Linz will analyze the factors that led to the delegitimization of democracy, and its collapse in Weimar Germany, favoring the emergence of Hitler;
and in the second Spanish Republic, whose fall will give rise to Franco's dictatorship.
He argues that democracies begin to lose legitimacy due to the growing distrust of citizens, when they face challenges and problems that they cannot solve effectively.
But Linz will reject deterministic explanations that attribute the bankruptcy of democracies exclusively to economic crises.
It will emphasize the specific variables that explain the collapse of parliamentary democracies: excessive polarization, lack of leadership and the inability to form stable coalitions.
It will summarize the characteristics that allow us to distinguish when a potential autocrat or dictator appears on the political scene: “they reject the constitution or express a desire not to abide by it, they deny the legitimacy of political adversaries, they tolerate or encourage the lynching of opponents and they have a predisposition to restrict civil liberties.”
Forty years later, two Harvard University scholars, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, are going to expand the research on the collapse of democracies in a book called
How Democracies Die
.
They will extend the reflection to Mussolini's Italy, Fujimori's Peru, Hugo Chávez's Venezuela and other experiences of the emergence of authoritarian leaders.
They hold the political regime, and the politicians of each country, responsible for the consequences on the democratic system.
They mark as a special sign of danger when the political system begins to accept, or include, candidates with extreme positions within its framework of alliances.
Argentine democracy is going through stormy times.
Our country has not grown for more than ten years and inflation impoverishes people's increasingly meager incomes.
Added to this brutal economic crisis is the delegitimization of politics due to corruption and the increase in authoritarian positions.
This produces an increasingly stronger movement against democratic institutions, and growing social authoritarianism.
The writer Martin Kohan is going to say that “cruelty is in fashion.”
Media lynchings on the networks are increasingly aggressive, and there is a danger that this aggressiveness will transfer to real life.
The Latinobarómetro shows how the sector of the population willing to support a military government “if it solves the problems” has been growing.
Today more than 30% of Argentines would welcome an authoritarian solution.
Argentine democracy has strong institutions, and needs to find a way to solve the problems of economic growth and state corruption that does not produce a dangerous slide towards authoritarian positions, seeking consensus and respecting democratic forms.
Responsible political parties and brave leaders are needed, because political parties, no matter how discredited they may be, are the guardians of democracy.
Daniel Lutzky is a sociologist and political scientist. Director of Communication Strategies.