Author: Susan Stokes | Journal of Democracy

Susan Stokes is Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor
and director of the Chicago Center on Democracy. She is the author,
most recently, of The Backsliders: Why Leaders Undermine Their
Own Democracies (2025).

April 2026, Volume 37, Issue 2

Why Elected Leaders Subvert Democracy

Susan Stokes

Today, the principal challenge to democracy is coming not from coups but from democratic erosion driven by elected leaders. What is behind this shift, and how can prodemocracy forces push back?