How Democracies Die

by

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

Democracy’s Guardrails Symbol Analysis

Democracy’s Guardrails Symbol Icon

Levitsky and Ziblatt compare democratic norms to guardrails in order to illustrate how they protect political systems against anti-democratic elements. Just as guardrails protect people from falling off a balcony or cars from veering off a freeway, democratic norms can protect a democracy in its moment of greatest need. But most of the time, they just sit passively in the background, so it’s easy to underestimate their importance.

Specifically, norms like mutual toleration and institutional forbearance protect democracies by helping them course-correct when authoritarian leaders take power. In short, when the majority of lawmakers believe in toleration and forbearance, they isolate and punish others who break from those norms. For instance, during three key moments when powerful politicians challenged democratic norms in the 20th century U.S.—Franklin D. Roosevelt’s attempts to expand executive power, Joseph McCarthy’s persecution of suspected communists, and Richard Nixon’s abuses of presidential power to sabotage his electoral opponents—Congress united to stop and sanction the offenders. But these guardrails also explain why Donald Trump’s presidency is so dangerous: the guardrails are no longer functioning like they’re supposed to. Therefore, according to the authors, Trump genuinely risks pushing American democracy over the edge to authoritarianism.

Democracy’s Guardrails Quotes in How Democracies Die

The How Democracies Die quotes below all refer to the symbol of Democracy’s Guardrails. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American Tyranny Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

The traditions underpinning America’s democratic institutions are unraveling, opening up a disconcerting gap between how our political system works and long-standing expectations about how it ought to work. As our soft guardrails have weakened, we have grown increasingly vulnerable to antidemocratic leaders.
Donald Trump, a serial norm breaker, is widely (and correctly) criticized for assaulting America’s democratic norms. But the problem did not begin with Trump. The process of norm erosion started decades ago—long before Trump descended an escalator to announce his presidential candidacy.

Related Characters: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (speaker), Donald Trump
Related Symbols: Democracy’s Guardrails
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

In many ways, President Trump followed the electoral authoritarian script during his first year. He made efforts to capture the referees, sideline the key players who might halt him, and tilt the playing field. But the president has talked more than he has acted, and his most notorious threats have not been realized. […] President Trump repeatedly scraped up against the guardrails, like a reckless driver, but he did not break through them. Despite clear causes for concern, little actual backsliding occurred in 2017. We did not cross the line into authoritarianism.
It is still early, however. The backsliding of democracy is often gradual, its effects unfolding slowly over time. Comparing Trump’s first year in office to those of other would-be authoritarians, the picture is mixed.

Related Characters: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (speaker), Donald Trump
Related Symbols: Democracy’s Guardrails
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:

Norms are the soft guardrails of democracy; as they break down, the zone of acceptable political behavior expands, giving rise to discourse and action that could imperil democracy. Behavior that was once considered unthinkable in American politics is becoming thinkable. Even if Donald Trump does not break the hard guardrails of our constitutional democracy, he has increased the likelihood that a future president will.

Related Characters: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (speaker), Donald Trump
Related Symbols: Democracy’s Guardrails
Page Number: 203
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

The third, and in our view, most likely, post-Trump future is one marked by polarization, more departures from unwritten political conventions, and increasing institutional warfare—in other words, democracy without solid guardrails.

Related Characters: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (speaker), Donald Trump
Related Symbols: Democracy’s Guardrails
Page Number: 208
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire How Democracies Die LitChart as a printable PDF.
How Democracies Die PDF

Democracy’s Guardrails Symbol Timeline in How Democracies Die

The timeline below shows where the symbol Democracy’s Guardrails appears in How Democracies Die. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5: The Guardrails of Democracy
Authoritarianism vs. Democratic Norms Theme Icon
...parties stop seeing each other as legitimate rivals. When these norms erode, politics loses its “guardrails.” (full context)
Chapter 6: The Unwritten Rules of American Politics
Authoritarianism vs. Democratic Norms Theme Icon
Polarization and Inclusive Democracy Theme Icon
Global and Historical Patterns Theme Icon
In each of these examples, “the guardrails held.” Democratic norms prevailed, keeping the U.S. out of a “death spiral” of intolerance and... (full context)
Chapter 7: The Unraveling
Authoritarianism vs. Democratic Norms Theme Icon
Polarization and Inclusive Democracy Theme Icon
...Court seat. This hasn’t happened once since Reconstruction. In short, the Republicans were taking the guardrails off American democracy. (full context)
Chapter 8: Trump Against the Guardrails
American Tyranny Theme Icon
Global and Historical Patterns Theme Icon
...to those of nine other authoritarians and point out that most didn’t actually dismantle democracy’s guardrails in their first year. (full context)
Chapter 9: Saving Democracy
Authoritarianism vs. Democratic Norms Theme Icon
Polarization and Inclusive Democracy Theme Icon
Global and Historical Patterns Theme Icon
...most likely, the U.S. might end up in a polarized system of “democracy without solid guardrails.” Levitsky and Ziblatt point to North Carolina as an example of how this would look.... (full context)