From Democracy To Dictatorship (And You Didn't See It Coming)

'It won't happen here'.

That is something we have heard quite often in democracies that are about to take a troubling turn. And yet it happens. 

How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship is the new book from Turkish author and journalist Ece Temelkuran. A sort of guide to spotting populists' mechanisms before it is too late. A warning against this global phenomenon.  

On this new episode of The Monocle Weekly, Temelkuran explains that “the excess of emotions due to the political turmoil” lead her to write the book.

Tired of “feeling that much”, she wondered what was the logic around what was happening in the world, and she projected Turkish experience onto European countries and the United States to answer one question: How does populism speak and behave?

She realized that populism demands a global fight and that 'the people' should be brought to the discussion and warned about the need to 'keep up' with the resistance against the disruption of the rationale.

We are political subjects, and as such people need to be reminded that politics is much richer than just watching politicians fight each other on television. 

Indeed a very interesting conversation and a sort of warning for everyone around the world that we should never become complacent, no matter how free our society might seem to be. A prelude to what her book is all about.