"I like to be optimistic. I'm just struggling with it," says Julian Zelizer. "We're moving increasingly to a winner take all situation where, again, if you think the country's in the ballot hanging in the balance, anything goes." The role of social media is 'deeply troubling,' writes Zelizer. "'Twilight of Democracy' forces you to think about the nature or democracy,'" he adds.
Journalist and author Anne Applebaum talks about her book, Twilight of Democracy, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Applebaum discusses the rise of populist and nationalist movements in Eastern Europe as well as in the West, and the appeal of these movements even when they begin to erode or destroy democracy.