We asked Tim Snyder, What is democracy?
[quote style=”default”]Democracy produces history, and is produced by it. If we have a sense that time flows forward from a past filled with events through a present filled with a possibility to a future defined in part by our choices, democracy is possible. This is why enemies of democracy seek to kill both the past and the future, and keep us trapped in a relentless present. Democracy involves us in a succession principle, reminding us that both continuity (of the state) and change (of its rulers) is possible. This is why enemies of democracy feed us a mythical past in which we were always innocent, and instruct us not to worry about what comes next.
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Tim Snyder, Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, is author of numerous books and articles on freedom, democracy and values.