The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It

Yascha Mounk — lecturer at Harvard's Government department and founder of the journal Persuasion — develops in this book one of the most analytically precise frameworks for understanding the current crisis of liberal democracy. His central argument distinguishes between two components of liberal democracy that are increasingly coming apart: liberal rights (the protection of individual freedoms and minority rights) and democratic will (the expression of popular preferences through elections). The result, he argues, is a world in which we see both illiberal democracy (elected governments that dismantle rights protections) and undemocratic liberalism (technocratic institutions that protect rights while ignoring popular will).

This framework has direct implications for understanding the information environment. Influence operations targeting democracies do not typically seek to install authoritarians directly — they seek to widen the gap between liberal values and democratic will, exploiting legitimate grievances about elite unresponsiveness to delegitimise democratic institutions. Mounk's analysis of why citizens are losing faith in democracy — drawing on extensive survey data showing declining democratic commitment across generations — identifies the structural vulnerabilities that information operations exploit. Essential reading alongside Levitsky and Ziblatt for understanding the political context in which information threats operate.