Authoritarian Waves Crashing: Dan Slater Reinterprets the Third Wave of Democratization

In the new episode of our monthly special in cooperation with the Journal of Democracy, Dan Slater discusses the authoritarian origins of the third wave of democratization.

Dan Slater – who is James Orin Murfin Professor of Political Science and the director of the Center for Emerging Democracies at the International Institute at the University of Michigan – explains what inspired him to critique Samuel Huntington’s influential interpretation of the third waveof democratization; discusses the rise and fall of left-wing and right-wing authoritarian waves in the 1970s and 1980s; examines how the democratization of countries thatexited left-wing authoritarian regimes may have differed from those leaving behind right-wing ones; considers the extent to which geopolitics might explain politicalchange; and reflects on what might be new and distinct  about the current wave of right-wing authoritarianism– and how the authoritarian waves of the recent past might help us grasp it better.

In the framework of this partnership, authors discuss outstanding articles from the latest print issue of the Journal of Democracy. The conversation is based on Dan Slater’sarticle “The Authoritarian Origins of the Third Wave” which has been published in the April 2025 (36/2) issue.