The present era is the era of triumphant democracy. It is time for democracy to retreat or decline. Just as democracies establish the rule of the people, fragile democracies create opportunities for anti-populist authoritarianism to flourish. In some parts of the world, the rule of a single authoritarian leader has been established by completely distorting democracy, and in some places, authoritarian rule is running under the umbrella of democracy.

The democratic system has now become the breeding ground of authoritarianism. By capitalizing on the democratic system, populist leaders ascend to power and gradually destroy democratic rules, ideals and democratic institutions. At its final stage, authoritarian governments emerge and democracy dies. The death of democracy does not happen suddenly, nor does it happen through any dramatic event. This is basically the result of many unexpected events.

The first thing in this process is to hit the opposition with words. A protagonist makes various derogatory and offensive remarks to the opposition that are outside the democratic norm. At different times, it is seen that the ruling government calls the opposition as the enemy of the country, calls them traitors etc. Such words can also hurt the media and journalists. Erdogan, the current president of Turkey, called journalists propaganda machines for which many see him as a potential dictator. Authoritarian leaders hold their own party and people of their choice in important state positions. Regular elections are held in the early stages. The opposition is given a place in parliament. Then it starts to attack the democratic system through small steps. These attacks are carried out under the guise of legitimate activities by a legal entity. For example, these activities are conducted under the guise of preventing corruption, holding free elections, promoting democracy or national security.

Bringing state institutions under their control is often compared to playing football. It can be described in three steps: i) bribing the referee; ii) attacking the government's opponents; and iii) changing the rules of the game.

The purpose of bribing the referee is to create a strong cover so that no injury is inflicted on the elected leader. Through this, the government use state law for the people of their choice and against the opposition. At this stage, the referee is handled mainly by placing people who are loyal to them among the civil service officers of the state. The leader makes them loyal to him by bribing or blackmailing them. The judges are elected according to their choice and who do not side with the populists are often impeached or forced into retirement. When Peron became president of Argentina in 1946, he removed three judges who had called him fascist and replaced them with judges who had expressed loyalty to him. The most extreme way to manipulate the referee is to completely destroy the court and build a new court. In this way, a leader creates strong cover of his power by handing the referee.

The opposition party is the most important and necessary part in a democratic system. Democracy is worthless without opposition. Therefore, if the opposition party can be cornered in the democratic system, it is convenient for the ruling party as well as for the dictator. After bringing the referee to his side, the elected public leader turns his attention to the opposing team. They try to bring influential political figures, businessmen, religious and cultural leaders in their own group to steadily weaken the opposition. Opposition ideologues are silenced in various ways as they buy the media. As a result, the elected dictator takes the opposition to himself.

The third step is to change the rules of the game. The ruling party weakens the opposition party by changing the constitution of the state, election commission and other institutions. By changing the constitution, changing the laws, creating new laws etc. ruling party strengthen their position. They try to explain these changes as public welfare, but by changing the policies they stop the influential people of the opposition so that they don’t pose any threat.

In a democratic system, public figures use economic downturns, natural disasters and national security issues like wars and terrorist attacks to justify their undemocratic behavior. Basically, public figures are looking for opportunities to prolong their power and legitimize behavior outside democratic norms. A general war or crisis helps the rulers develop an independent form and earns their popularity. The citizens of the state also have no choice but to tolerate the authoritarian behavior of the dictator in that situation. Most constitutions in the world allow the ruler to exert greater influence over the executive in times of crisis. So they take that opportunity to bolster their power and solidify their position.

In a in a fragile democratic state, authoritarianism is gradually branching out behind the public mind, either at the hands of an elected populist or a potential dictator. Thus, in the present world, democracy has become the best field for the development of authoritarianism, which could bring a disaster in the history of good governance.