Utopian Promises, Despotic Outcomes

A historian’s account of modern revolutions finds that while some dictators have been opposed by popular movements, others have used them to gain power.

Excerpt: “The inevitable compromises of democratic governance,” he writes of our present moment, “do not sit easily with either progressives or traditionalists. Liberal democracy gets worn down by historical expectations or regrets.”

This general ennui produces perilous effects: a taste for centralized power, distain for procedural justice, aggressive ideological purity, contempt for moderation.

Whatever his intentions, Mr. Edelstein may find that his study of revolutions induces in readers an appreciation for the age-old, Polybian balance of the U.S. Constitution, even as history threatens to overtake it.

We should certainly hope so.