We are in the midst of authoritarianism’s third wave. The first and second — roughly 1926-1942 and 1961-1977 — featured sudden and emphatic transitions away from democracy that were the results of foreign invasion, military coups or “autogolpe,” where a chief executive comes to rule by legal means and then abolishes democratic institutions like parliaments. By contrast, a subtler and slower process of democratic erosion is the hallmark of authoritarianism’s third wave.