The Democracy Disadvantage

Reviews / Votes

Citizens of the world are increasingly exposed to a range of disasters. What type of institutional arrangements and governing styles are best suited to address them? In The Democracy Disadvantage, Brian K. Grodsky challenges the conventional thinking that democracies can better mitigate the human toll of disasters and that populists are doomed to fail in this regard. Rather, Grodsky combines these two dimensions into a compelling proposition: populists undercut the presumed advantage of democratic institutions but overcome authoritarian regimes' putative deficiencies. Undergirding this argument is a theory of power and time. Disasters encourage populists in democracies to pursue quick, but sup-optimal, fixes because they lack both the power and the time to get it right. Yet for autocrats with power and time on their side, disasters provide a jolt that spurs public policies to benefit a broad swath of the citizenry. In-depth case studies of the incumbent leaders in the United States, China, and Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic probe the plausibility of these claims. The result is a significant contribution to our understanding of the politics of disasters. The Democracy Disadvantage gives theoreticians and students alike much to consider. -- Ryan E. Carlin, Georgia State University