176 foreign affairsand Daniel Ziblatt have identified
forbearance (not using the law to entrench
the incumbent) and toleration (accepting
opposition and criticism) as critical to the
health of democracies. One might also
add equality before the law: the idea that
neither the government nor the law can
make distinctions that favor some groups
over others. These norms are breaking
down, and not just in young democracies.
Informal norms also keep autocracies
afloat. Geddes, Wright, and Frantz give
little attention to the world’s most
important dictatorship in this regard: the
People’s Republic of China, an autocracy
that has not only endured but thrived by
adapting. The authors’ model would
account for the regime’s stability, since it
is governed by a hegemonic communist
party. But other communist parties
around the world have failed. How, then,
was the Chinese Communist Party able
to renegotiate its relationship with
capitalism and society? What gave it the
ability to shift course after Mao and open
up China’s economy without opening up
its political system? Scholars have argued
that informal norms and institutions
played a significant role, ensuring good
governance and economic growth, on the
one hand, and maintaining party control
over society, on the other. This careful
balance allowed the party to shift course
without destabilizing the regime.
How Dictatorships Work is reassuring, in
a way: the book demonstrates that even
the most outlandish tyrants act according
to familiar patterns. But understanding
the current wave of democratic erosion
requires closer attention to informal norms,
how they contribute to a regime’s durabil-
ity, and how they shape the path by which
democracies can become autocracies or are
able to stop someplace along the way.∂ForeignAffairs.com/newslettersNot all readers
are leaders,
but all leaders
are readers.
- Harry S. Truman
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