Carol Rifelj Lecture Series, Sebnem Gumuscu

Party Capture and Democratic Backsliding

Democratic backsliding is typically explained by what aspiring autocrats do once in power: capture courts, weaponize law, and polarize electorates. This lecture traces the process further back, to its origin inside political parties: How do insurgent factions seize control of ruling parties before subverting democratic politics? What role do financial resources, party rules, and media control play in allowing a captured faction to consolidate power within the party before turning against democratic institutions? By locating the origins of backsliding within parties, this lecture explores the connections across social forces, party organizations, and executive attacks on democracy, and shows that backsliding is less a sudden rupture than a gradual repurposing of the same institutions that once sustained democratic competition.

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