Well that’s annoying. This was the song that was supposed to go with #normerosion #polisciwordoftheday

Anyway, enjoy it while reading about norm erosion to a picture of my dog Bufo 🐸 eroding norms of his own.

youtu.be/7GZUaVDLeVw?...

When norm violations go unpunished and then normalized, institutional guardrails fail quietly, making later abuses of power appear lawful, inevitable, and even justified.

#polisciwordoftheday #normerosion
#politicalscience #politics #gothispolitical

Once norms lose their binding force, actors can exploit legal authority in illiberal ways, accelerating democratic backsliding without overt regime change.

Norm erosion is how democratic decline becomes invisible—because nothing illegal has happened yet.

#polisciwordoftheday #normerosion

Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt argue, democracies often decay not through coups or constitutional rupture but through the steady normalization of norm violations, which hollow out institutions while preserving their formal appearance.
#polisciwordoftheday #normerosion
#politics #gothispolitical

Norm erosion refers to the gradual breakdown of informal democratic norms—such as mutual toleration, institutional forbearance, and respect for unwritten rules—that constrain political actors beyond formal law.

#polisciwordoftheday #normerosion
#politicalscience #politics #gothispolitical

In Weberian terms, this is the sacralization of charismatic authority: obedience is owed not to institutions or rules, but to the leader personally—and dissent becomes heresy, not opposition.
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#cultofpersonality

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Cult of personality functions as a mechanism of authoritarian durability by personalizing legitimacy & demanding unconditional loyalty, such that a leader’s words & actions are treated as authoritative truth—political fiat rather than contestable decisions.
#cultofpersonality