Books on why and how democracies collapse are now as commonplace as those which promote and consolidate democracy. In other words, studies on the death of democracy have become as politically important as those which concentrate on its formation. So what sets this book apart from all the others which have examined the breakdown of democracy? In a word, it is the focus on the endogenous causes of democratic failure. Said to encompass those circumstances where democratic citizens and processes are ultimately held responsible for the demise of democracy, endogenous breakdown can be considered an umbrella category of sorts.

The aim of this book is to develop and explore one particular type of endogenous breakdown: democracy against itself. A largely under-theorised concept, democracy against itself can essentially be defined as the capacity that democrats have to destroy democracy in the course of fulfilling their democratic duties. It arises when democratic citizens, their elected leaders, the institutions and procedures of popular participation, and the very freedoms and pluralisms which make mass rule possible, use democratic means to act against democracy. Unlike violent rebellions and fascist uprisings, democracy against itself is distinct because it emanates ‘from within the government’ itself and comprises acts such as ‘suspending the constitution, arresting the opposition politicians, restricting the activities of the mass media, or rigging electoral results’. In this way, where acts to curtail democracy are supported by a majority of citizens or their elected leaders is where we will have a case of democracy against itself.

Of course, this is a rather simplified account of how democracy against itself manifests. In practice, few who have acted against democracy have been able to do so without resort to at least some non- or anti-democratic measures. In this regard, not only is the end they seek to realise against democracy so to speak, but so are the means they employ. Not only that, but it is never democracy alone that is solely responsible for its own demise.