Episode
Why Voters Support Politicians Who Undermine Democracy
- Published
- Sep 14, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2066
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://newbooksnetwork.com
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-political-science-408770/episodes/why-voters-support-politicians-who-undermine-democracy/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/why-voters-support-politicians-who-undermine-democracy.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Why do so many citizens continue to support politicians who undermine democracy? And why have nationalist appeals become such a powerful tool for democratic backsliding? In this episode of the People, Power, Politics podcast, Nic Cheeseman talks to Filip Milačić about his new book, Abandoning Democracy for the Nation (Cambridge UP, 2026). Drawing on evidence from Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Israel and Turkey, Milačić argues that democratic erosion is often driven not simply by populism or polarization, but by political leaders convincing citizens that the nation itself is under threat. The discussion explores why democratically minded voters sometimes accept attacks on democratic institutions, whether this argument travels beyond the cases in the book, and what lessons it offers for those seeking to defend democracy.