News from the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI) Voting Authoritarians into Power – Panel Discussion on June 6, 2024 “The big joke on democracy is that it gave its mortal enemies the tools to its own destruction.”* This statement from Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s Minister of Propaganda, calls attention to one of the central conundrums of democracy: that democracy and the rights it guarantees can also benefit those who seek to abolish them. Not all dictatorships are established by coup d’état; some come to power through democratic processes including elections.
