Over the past several decades, democracy has taken root or been re-established in a number of countries, with support from other democratic states and private groups. While the increase in democracies around the world has been widely heralded, little has been written on how democracy can be protected and sustained where it has been chosen by the people of a state. Coups d'etat and the erosion of democratic freedoms and institutions remain the most salient threats to democratic governance around the globe. How can democratic states protect themselves and secure more effective international action against such threats?

Protecting Democracy: International Responses (Lexington Books), edited by Morton H. Halperin (OSI Director of U.S. Advocacy and Executive Director of the Open Society Policy Center), and Mirna Galic (National Security Analyst at the Center for American Progress), is the first comprehensive guide to preventing and responding to threats to democracies. Through case studies and in-depth analyses, the book provides legal and policy justification for these processes and discusses how they can be made more effective, combining the findings of an international task force on threats to democracy with contributions from leading scholars and policymakers.

The first chapter of Protecting Democracy is available for download below.

Contents

Foreword
Madeleine Albright and Bronislaw Geremek

Introduction
Mirna Galic and Morton H. Halperin

The Theory of Collective Response
Charles Sampford and Margaret Palmer

Case Studies in Collective Response
Ken Gude

International Mechanisms for Protecting Democracy
Theodore J. Piccone

The Role of the Organization of American States
Rubén M. Perina

Next Steps

Report of the Independent Task Force on Threats to Democracy

Beneath the Lens: A Closer Examination of Threats to Democracy and Measures Against Them

Strengthening Domestic Responses
Charles Sampford and Margaret Palmer

Vigilance: Recognizing the Erosion of Democracy
Esther Brimmer

International Legal Recourse
Brian D. Tittemore