40 pages • 1 hour read
Timothy SnyderOn Tyranny
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Failure of Democracy and the Rise of Tyranny
Early 20th-century European democracies are fragile and easily disrupted by political events. Russia’s nascent republic is taken down by Soviet Bolsheviks in 1922 during a civil war; its institutions are destroyed and replaced by a dictatorship. In Germany, both internal and external stresses become fodder for a tyrant’s takeover, as Hitler uses propaganda, appeals to nationalism and racism, staged “emergencies,” and strong-arm tactics to wrest control from Germany’s struggling democratic republic.
Russia extricates itself from Soviet despotism in the late 20th century, only to have its emerging republic dismantled by the despotic strategies of Vladimir Putin. Any democracy can become a victim of a takeover, and America is not exempt. Snyder warns that the American president in 2017 uses many of the tactics employed by recent demagogues, including Hitler, Stalin and Putin, in an effort to win more authority and control over the American system.
A chief reason, then, for a democracy’s fall is the willingness of its citizens to go along with a leader who violates the norms of civil society. When enough people accept, passively and over time, an accumulation of actions that normally would be considered offensive violations of civic tradition, the tyrant’s grip on a nation becomes vicelike.
The Anti-Democratic Tactics of an American President
He is never mentioned by name, but “the president,” Donald Trump, is cited numerous times, especially in the extensive lists of actions he has taken that strongly resemble methods employed by successful European despots. The president makes up facts, ridicules his opponents, belittles the news media, suggests that he should have more authority, encourages followers to mistreat dissenters, and courts foreign leaders for favors. Similar behaviors have led, in the past, to the collapse of democracies and the rise of tyrannies.
The core of the book’s message is that the current American president, in the manner of recent dictators, threatens democratic principles and institutions, and that an informed and engaged citizenry can push back against any such threats to American democracy.
The Loss of History
With the fall of Nazi Germany and, later, the collapse of the Soviet Union, people in the West begin to assume that history inevitably marches away from tyranny and toward democracy. Thus, it is widely assumed that people no longer need to study history for its lessons on the dangers that face modern societies. With no sense of history, however, a people become blind to the ever-present threats posed by those who still plot to overthrow nations from within.
A society ignorant of history can also fall prey to a demagogue who preaches the myth of an eternal nation, unchanging, stable and safe, if only the people accept the authority of the demagogue. Without a grounding in history, with its record of recurring dictatorships, a citizenry becomes naïve and trusting, not of each other but of the leader who promises endless security and national glory at the price of endless despotism.
The Importance of Civil Society
The one thing a tyrant hates most is a thriving civil society of engaged citizens who take an ongoing interest in the workings of government. Any nation whose people partake in community activities, involve each other in lively discussions, build trust and acceptance among believers of differing viewpoints, and speak up loudly on issues of importance, is a nation hard to bring to its knees.
Therefore, the tyrant must first convince the populace that civic problems are best solved, not by the citizens, but by the tyrant himself. He convinces them that they cannot maintain their safety unless they submit to his authority. To convince a people that they are dependent, a ruler must denigrate the beliefs, institutions, and systems that stand in his way. Once dismantled, these protectors of liberty can no longer shield the country from the principal thing a government is designed to prevent, namely, the conquest of a free state by a dictator.
A major contributor to the erosion of democratic traditions is the breakdown of public institutions that promote freedom. When these have been disparaged and dismantled, little is left in the way of the tyrant except an engaged citizenry. The tyrant must therefore appeal to vast numbers or people who are willing to sacrifice their freedoms for the promise of security. He enacts policies that pit neighbor against neighbor, causing a collapse of trust within communities.
If a demagogue achieves office, he will try to disrupt civil society; thus, it is vital that the citizens strive continuously to maintain a robust culture of openness, respect, responsibility, engagement, debate, and dissent. To achieve this, many methods are available, including the practice of skepticism, the willingness to speak up, the courage to take action, and the nurturing of communities of trust.
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By Timothy Snyder
