What Ruth Ben-Ghiat thinks about democracy
American historian of fascism and authoritarian leaders; professor of history and Italian studies at New York University; author of Strongmen (2020); publishes the newsletter Lucid.
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1 dated position, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Ruth Ben-Ghiat has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsIn the 20th century, the practice of holding elections was often used to determine whether a country could be classified as a democracy. Today, as “electoral autocracies” take hold around the world, that’s no longer the case.
↗The Fascist Idea of Electionslucid.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece