Adam Przeworski is the Carroll and Milton Professor of Politics and Economics at New York University. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1991, he is the recipient of the 1985 Socialist Review Book Award, the 1998 Gregory M. Luebbert Article Award, the 2001 Woodrow Wilson Prize, the 2010 Lawrence Longley Article Award, the 2018 Sakip Sabanci International Award, and the 2018 Juan Linz Prize. In 2010, he received the Johan Skytte Prize. He recently published Why Bother with Elections? (2018).

• 1. Introduction; Part I. The Past: Crises of Democracy: 2. General patterns; 3. Some stories; 4. Lessons from history: what to look for?; Part II. The Present: What Is Happening?: 5. The signs; 6. Potential causes; 7. Where to seek explanations?; 8. What may be unprecedented?; Part III. The Future?: 9. How democracy works; 10. Subversion by stealth; 11. What can and cannot happen?

'The mood in the democratic world these days is one of pessimism, but we are fortunate to have one of the grandmasters of comparative politics to help us understand the situation. Crises of Democracy is incisive, clear and full of insights into where we have been and where we might go.' Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of Law, University of Chicago