Review: Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman’s “Backsliding”

If one has been relying on media outlets of the cable news variety for one’s minimum daily requirement for news, he might come to the realization that he is intellectually famished. One is also likely aware of dire proclamations regarding the “death of democracy” from journalists on the Left. Fortunately for lovers of democracy worldwide, these concerned journalists deftly identified the malevolent actors responsible for democratic regression (right-wing populist leaders), explained the causes of their actions (xenophobia), and offered the remedy (deplatforming). I wanted to learn more about the idea that democracy might be under siege but was disappointed by the simplistic explanation that right-wing populism was responsible for it. I decided to turn to Saskia Sassen, one of my former Columbia University professors for a more scholarly assessment of the subject. Her tweet recommended Backsliding, a book released this year by political science professors Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman.

Upon the book’s arrival, I quickly scanned through its contents. I knew immediately that I was going to need to keep an open mind while reading this book when I came to the section entitled “Trump’s America.” During my time as a Columbia University student, I endured many presentations and lectures in which the phrase “Trump’s America” featured prominently. In every instance, I can say with absolute authority that nothing positive about former President Donald Trump or his supporters was ever uttered. This continued, in part, here; the authors believe that President Trump’s “rhetorical attacks on the press were unprecedented in the United States, as is his practice of calling out specific networks and even individual journalists for intimidating criticism.”

However, I might argue—just the same—that a journalist from a major television network calling a major party candidate for president a fascist, as Rachel Maddow did only five months after then-candidate Trump announced his campaign, was unprecedented as well. In my view, this difference of opinion on how specific events during President Trump’s four-year tenure are portrayed undermined the authors’ credibility. As a result, I approached the individual backsliding case histories of Venezuela, Russia, and Hungary that I would encounter later in the book with more skepticism than I otherwise would have.