Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The original aired in November 2020.
Ill Winds is a call to action against the rising authoritarianism that challenges our world order—and the very value of liberty. Professor Diamond has watched with mounting unease as illiberal rulers rose in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, the Philippines, and beyond, while China and Russia grew increasingly bold and bullying. Then, with Trump’s election at home, the global retreat from freedom spread from democracy’s margins to its heart.
We are at a hinge in history. Ill Winds offers concrete, deeply informed suggestions to fight polarization, reduce the influence of money in politics, and make every vote count.
Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, a professor of political science and sociology at Stanford, and a past director of its Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He is the author of numerous books, including The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World, and a founding coeditor of the Journal of Democracy.
