Now, in 2022, Walter is pointing to her own country, the United States, as a country with that potential. “Anocracy is usually transitional — a repressive government allows reforms, or a democracy begins to unravel — and it is volatile. “The United States was an anocracy, the CSP found, with parties increasingly organized around identity-based grievances. This is what average citizens should be thinking about when they hear that America’s democracy is declining. They are being led, unaware, into a downward spiral of instability, in which extremists and opportunists spread fear — and then grab power by force.”

Source: Washington Post January 24, 2022 21:01 UTC