Braz. political sci. rev.2026;20(3):e0003.
Democratic Support Without Liberal Commitment? Explaining Tolerance for Institutional Backsliding
Julian Borba
, Lucas de Carvalho Amorim
DOI: 10.1590/1981-3821202600030003
Abstract
This review analyzes ‘Democratic Commitment: Why Citizens Tolerate Democratic Backsliding’ by Natasha Wunsch (2025) and situates it within the literature on the microfoundations of democratic erosion. The book challenges explanations centered on polarization and material incentives by arguing that the key to institutional resilience lies in the degree to which citizens prioritize the liberal component of democracy. By combining survey data, focus groups, and conjoint experiments in Hungary and Poland, Wunsch identifies distinct voter profiles and shows that weak commitment to liberal principles helps explain tolerance toward illiberal candidates. The review highlights the book’s main contribution — its integration of political culture, elite strategies, and electoral behavior into a unified framework — while also discussing scope conditions, such as the gap between normative commitments and vote choice, the modest role of partisanship, and unresolved issues of causal temporality. By restoring political culture to a central place in debates on democratic stability, the book offers an innovative and theoretically grounded account of contemporary democratic backsliding.
4