How A Single Demagogue Can Change A Democracy Forever

Americans often think of demagogues as a feature of foreign countries with weak or non-existent democracies. But is it possible to still get a demagogue in a functioning and strong democracy? That’s the argument of Mehdi Shadmehr in his paper: “Demagogues and the Fragility of Democracy” (https://tinyurl.com/rpdymkz). One of the scariest features of this research is that once a country elects a single demagogue they can create a political death spiral that can lead the country into financial ruin.