Many political commentators are preoccupied with a threat to democracy from unruly barbarians at the gates, like the supporters of Donald Trump who rioted on Capitol Hill to prevent Joe Biden’s inauguration. But if the institutions of liberal democracy seem vulnerable to an external challenge, that’s largely because the citadel has been hollowed out from within. When far-right politician Giorgia Meloni surged to victory in the Italian election this fall, turnout was lower than ever before. Indifference to what passes for democratic politics is far more widespread than a desire to experiment with dictatorship.

There is little question that democracy is in trouble.

Outside the electoral cycle, the membership of political parties has declined sharply. As well as lacking a mass base, parties no longer have strong ties to organizations like trade unions that formerly kept them in touch with society. Without members and affiliated groups to assist their efforts, party leadership teams become ever more reliant on donations from corporations and wealthy individuals to fund their campaigns. Politicians also look to the world of business for lucrative forms of employment after their careers are over, reinforcing mass disillusionment with a political class whose members appear to be tied to private economic interests and mainly concerned with feathering their own nests. This emaciated form of democratic politics has proved to be highly vulnerable to sudden shocks, especially since the Great Recession of 2008–9. Outsider candidates like Donald Trump can take over existing parties and bend them to their will. New political forces, or old ones that have subsisted on the margins for decades, can push their way to the front of the stage, like Italy’s Five Star Movement or the Scottish National Party. Traditional parties of government can suddenly implode, from Ireland’s Fianna Fáil to the French Socialists or PASOK in Greece.