Death by a Thousand Cuts

Putting the current crisis of democracy into historical perspective, Death by a Thousand Cuts chronicles how would-be despots, dictators, and outright tyrants have finessed the techniques of killing democracies earlier in history, in the 20^th Century, and how today’s autocrats increasingly continue to do so in the 21^st. It shows how autocratic government becomes a kleptocracy, sustained only to enrich the ruler and his immediate family. But the book also addresses the problems of being a dictator and considers if dictatorships are successful in delivering public policies, and finally, how autocracies break down.

We tend to think of democratic breakdowns as dramatic events, such as General Pinochet’s violent coup in Chile, or Generalissimo Franco’s overthrow of the Spanish Republic. But this is not how democracies tend to die – only five percent of democracies end like this. Most often, popular government is brought down gradually; almost imperceptibly. Based in part on Professor Qvortrup’s BBC Programme Death by a Thousand Cuts (Radio-4, 2019), the book shows how complacency is the greatest danger for the survival of government by the people. Recently democratically elected politicians have used crises as a pretext for dismantling democracy. They follow a pattern we have seen in all democracies since the dawn of civilisation. The methods used by Octavian in the dying days of the Roman Republic were almost identical to those used by Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán in 2020. And, sadly, there are no signs that the current malaise will go away.

Death by a Thousand Cuts adds substance to a much-discussed topic: the threat to democracy. It provides evidence and historical context like no other book on the market. Written in an accessible style with vignettes as well as new empirical data, the books promises to be the defining book on the topic. This book will help readers who are concerned about the longevity of democracy understand when and why democracy is in danger of collapsing, and alert them to the warning signs of its demise.

• Based on thorough research but written in an accessible style
• Based on a BBC radio program
• Combines cutting edge research in history, political science and even philosophy

Matt Qvortrup DPhil, (Oxon) is Professor of Political Science at Coventry University. Since 2016, he has been Joint Editor of the top-academic journal European Political Science Review. His acclaimed biography, Angela Merkel: Europe’s Most Influential Leader (Duckworth Overlook, 2016) has been translated into Chinese, Russian, Korean, Czech and Bulgarian). He is trained in both political science and law and has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and more than a dozen books on comparative politics and constitutional law. Having served as head of section in the British Home Office (Department of the Interior), he has been a diplomatic envoy for the US State Department in Sudan. He served as the chief legal advisor for the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee (2015-2016) and has recently been an advisor for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He has worked as a consultant in, among other places, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Bougainville, Colombia, Mexico, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Denmark.

Described by the BBC as ‘the world’s leading expert on referendums,’ Matt Qvortrup gained prominence when he correctly predicted the outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendums three months before the vote.