Anyone who has lived through a democracy\u2019s collapse knows the score: Authoritarians often come to power off a wave of public anger. Their early popularity can delay resistance, making it feel risky or even anti-democratic \u2014 but that\u2019s precisely when the real damage gets done.<\/p>\n
The longer a resistance movement hesitates, the harder democracy falls.<\/p>\n
We know from decades of research on democratic backsliding<\/a> that timing and scale matter. Meaning, there\u2019s a brief window for action before a would-be authoritarian consolidates power, and that window closes faster than most realize. Also, mass mobilization alone isn\u2019t enough to counteract the momentum; it must be coupled with real institutional pushback.<\/p>\n In Hungary, for example, Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s ruling Fidesz party steadily hollowed out<\/a> the country\u2019s democratic institutions, capturing courts, media and universities, while their opponents hesitated. Hungarian opposition leaders now admit<\/a> they moved too slowly. Many feared resisting too early on might appear anti-democratic, so they waited. They didn\u2019t know just how fast<\/a> the system would erode.<\/p>\n In Turkey, meanwhile, we saw how mass protests can signal resistance, but don\u2019t always stop the slide toward authoritarianism \u2014 at least, not in isolation. Even enormous demonstrations, like the 2013 Gezi Park<\/a> protests, didn\u2019t prevent President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s consolidation of power. And once authoritarian movements capture institutions, the game changes. Resistance becomes harder, and far more dangerous.<\/p>\n