Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He is also a professor by courtesy of political science and sociology at Stanford University and a past director of its Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. In 2004, Diamond served in Baghdad as a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He is the author of numerous books, including The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World, the editor of coeditor of fifty books, and a counding founding coeditor of the Journal of Democracy.
"[Diamond] has spent 40 years circumnavigating the globe promoting
democracy in Nigeria, Venezuela and some 70 other countries. Yet
today he is aghast...In his impassioned book Ill Winds, he
proves a stalwart, persuasive champion for democracy at a moment
when its reputation has been fouled by Britain mauling itself with
Brexit and by the United States electing someone as morally,
intellectually and literally bankrupt as Donald Trump."-Gary J.
Bass, New York Times Book Review
"The question he poses is how to prevent the world's democratic
recession from turning into outright depression . . . Diamond's
solution is for the US to launch a concerted-though not
warlike-promotion of global democracy. His case is well made."
-Financial Times
"Diamond succeeds in making a compelling case that the global
assault on democracy is the single most important trend driving
global events today...Diamond's entire book should be read as a
clarion call that we have reached a critical moment where the price
of inaction will render democratic government not only ineffective,
but increasingly defenseless."-Foreign Policy
"[An] important new book... galvanizing"-San Francisco
Chronicle
" One of the world's foremost experts on democracy and a professor
at Stanford University, Diamond emphasizes that the declining
quality of American democracy is only part of a broader downturn
from Venezuela to Turkey to Hungary, to name a few egregious cases.
Rather than the outright coups of the past, democracy now suffers
more discreetly... Political reforms, electoral design,
campaign-financing legislation - these may not have the visceral
appeal of debates over gun rights or taxation or the environment,
but they are just as critical, even more so if we consider that a
functional democracy is needed to tackle all our other
challenges."-Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post
"A leading scholar of democracy combines his academic research with
his direct experience to piece together a wide-ranging study of the
creation-and possible destruction-of that specific form of
governance.... A potent mix of theory and
practice...inspiring."-Kirkus
"From a scholar who has dedicated his life to studying liberal
democracy comes a plan for its long-term preservation. 'Ill winds'
are indeed blowing-and Diamond has shown us how to weather and,
ultimately, beat back the storm." -Madeleine K. Albright, former
Secretary of State and author of Fascism: A Warning
"With Ill Winds, Diamond has provided a sobering description of the
origins and impacts of the global assault-from both foreign and
domestic sources-on democracy, and a thorough, thoughtful, and
indeed, hopeful, prescription for what to do about it. His
life-long devotion to the study of democracy is clearly evident in
the scholarly and authoritative approach. This is a crucial read
for anyone who is concerned about current trends, and reversing the
insidious effects of the broad-gauged assault on truth that
regrettably is eroding our traditional and long-held precepts of
freedom." -James Clapper, former U.S. Director of National
Intelligence and author of Facts and Fears
"Larry Diamond nails it. The rise of the authoritarian impulse
globally comes at a time when the United States is unwilling to
provide the leadership that nudges these countries toward freedom.
There will be lasting consequences if we continue down this road. A
must read."- Senator Jeff Flake, author of Conscience of a
Conservative
"Synthesizing a lifetime of democracy scholarship, Larry Diamond
has written a brilliant, sweeping analysis of the 'ill winds'
threatening the future of democracy both in America and around the
world. Diamond not only provides a powerful, precise diagnosis of
the causes of democratic erosion in the world today, but also
offers concrete prescriptions for democratic renewal in the United
States and around the globe. Ill Winds is a page-turning
international manifesto, calling upon 'democrats of the world to
unite' to preserve, reinvigorate, and expand those democratic
institutions and values that have produced so much peace,
prosperity, and freedom in the past. A must read for all, from
future heads of state to every citizen of the world." -Michael
McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation and author
of From Cold War to Hot Peace
"This is a powerful, vital, and essential treatment of the
dangerous waters our nation must navigate in this turbulent 21st
century. Without steady American leadership-which vacillates too
often-chaos and instability will only increase. Ill Winds is a
superb cautionary tale and a prescriptive guide as well."-Adm.
James Stavridis, USN (ret.), author of Sea Power
"Larry Diamond is one of the world's foremost students of
democracy. He has spent a lifetime studying, and advocating,
self-government. In Ill Winds, he distills decades of research to
explain why Trump is not unique, but rather indicative of a
worldwide threat to democracy whose dimensions we must take
seriously. He offers astute advice on how we can repair the
democratic fabric and stop the rise of dangerous demagogues. An
imperative and important read in these deeply troubled times."
-Max Boot, author of The Corrosion of Conservatism
"I hope this book will be on every presidential candidate's reading
list. Larry Diamond has distilled a lifetime of wisdom and
experience into not only a diagnosis of what ails democracy around
the world, including in the United States, but also, critically, a
set of prescriptions for going forward. He provides a manual for a
deep, broad, enduring strategy to fight the good
fight."-Anne-Marie Slaughter, president and CEO, New America;
and author of Unfinished
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