{{Mdy|date=March 2025}}
{{Short description|American political scientist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Steven Levitsky
| image             = Steven Levitsky, August 2025.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Levitsky in 2025
| birth_name        = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1968|01|17}}
| birth_place       = 
| fields            = [[Political science]]
| workplaces        = [[Harvard University]]<br>(2000–present)
| doctoral_advisor  = [[David Collier (political scientist)|David Collier]]
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = [[Illiberal democracy|Competitive authoritarianism]]<br/>[[Institutions|Informal institutions]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| awards            = 
| religion          = 
| signature         = <!--(filename only)-->
| footnotes         = 
| education         = [[Stanford University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[PhD]])
}}

'''Steven Robert Levitsky''' (born January 17, 1968) is an American [[political scientist]] and professor of government at [[Harvard University]] and a senior fellow for democracy at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=CFR Welcomes Steven Levitsky as a Senior Fellow for Democracy {{!}} Council on Foreign Relations |url=https://www.cfr.org/news-releases/cfr-welcomes-steven-levitsky-senior-fellow-democracy |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=www.cfr.org |language=en}}</ref> He is also a senior fellow at the [[Kettering Foundation]], an American [[Nonpartisanship|non-partisan]] research foundation.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Steven Levitsky |url=https://kettering.org/fellow/steven-levitsky/ |access-date=2025-03-06 |work=Kettering Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> 

A [[Comparative politics|comparative political scientist]], his research interests focus on [[Latin America]] and include [[political parties]] and [[party systems]], [[authoritarianism]] and [[democratization]], and weak and informal [[institutions]].<ref>"[http://scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky Steve Levitsky, Professor of Government]". Harvard University. Retrieved 2016-10-23.</ref> 

He is notable for his work on [[Illiberal democracy|competitive authoritarian regimes]] and [[Institutions|informal political institutions]].<ref name="tenure">Balakrishna, Aditi (December&nbsp;12, 2007). "[https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/12/12/popular-levitsky-awarded-tenure-steven-r/ Popular Levitsky Awarded Tenure]". ''Harvard Crimson''. Retrieved 2022-03-31.</ref> An expert on Latin America, Levitsky co-authored the 2018 best seller ''[[How Democracies Die]]'' with [[Daniel Ziblatt]] (an expert on authoritarianism in interwar Europe), warning that [[Donald Trump]] and the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] were engaging in rhetoric and actions that have parallels with the breakdown of democracy in other regions and historical periods.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2025-04-16 |title=This professor studies dictatorships. He helped convince Harvard to stand up to Trump |url=https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-04-16/harvard-professor-dictatorships-trump |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Levitsky was raised in [[Ithaca, New York]].<ref name="Ritz-Jack">{{cite news |last1=Ritz-Jack |first1=Charlotte P. |title=Fifteen Questions: Steven Levitsky on Democracy, Latin America, and the Mets |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/3/24/steve-levitsky-15q/ |work=[[The Harvard Crimson]] |date=March 24, 2023}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> His father was a professor of psychology at Cornell University.<ref name=":0" />

He studied Spanish in high school and became aware of the Reagan administration policies toward [[Central America]].<ref name="Ritz-Jack" /> As an undergraduate, he took some courses about [[Latin America]] and "fell in love with the region".<ref name="Ritz-Jack" /> In the summer of 1989, he visited [[Managua]], [[Nicaragua]], to do research for his senior thesis.<ref name="Ritz-Jack" /> 

Levitsky received a B.A. in [[political science]] from [[Stanford University]] in 1990 and a [[Ph.D.]] in [[political science]] from the [[University of California, Berkeley]], in 1999.<ref name="tenure"/>

== Academic career ==

=== Career ===
After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1999, Levitsky was a visiting fellow at the [[University of Notre Dame]]'s Kellogg Institute for International Studies.<ref name="2009cv">[http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/levitsky/files/CV-2009-Levitsky.pdf Steven Levitsky curriculum vitae], 2009. Via Harvard University website. Retrieved 2016-10-23.</ref>
The next year, he joined [[Harvard University]] as an assistant professor of government. There he went on to serve as the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences (2004–2008) before receiving [[tenure]] as a full professor of government in 2008.<ref name="tenure"/><ref name="2009cv"/> Although he had enjoyed living and studying in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]], he always identified more strongly with the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] and was happy to return east when he joined Harvard.<ref name="Ritz-Jack" /> 

At Harvard, Levitsky also sits on the executive committees of the [[Weatherhead Center for International Affairs]] and the [[David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies]].<ref name="wcfia">"[http://wcfia.harvard.edu/people/administration/executive_committee Senior Advisers and Executive Committee]". Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Harvard University. Retrieved 2016-10-23.</ref>
He is an advisor to several student organizations, including the Harvard Association Cultivating Inter-American Democracy (HACIA Democracy).<ref>''HACIA: XXII Summit of the Americas: Faculty advisor guide'' (2016). p. 2. Available as a [http://haciademocracy.org/english/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/HACIA-2016-Faculty-Advisor-Guide.pdf PDF file] at the HACIA Democracy website. Retrieved 2016-10-23.</ref>

=== Research ===
Levitsky is known for his work with [[University of Toronto]] professor Lucan Way on "competitive authoritarian" regimes: [[hybrid regime|hybrid government]] types in which, on the one hand, democratic institutions are generally accepted as the means to obtaining and exercising political power, but, on the other hand, incumbents violate the norms of those institutions so routinely, and to such an extent, that the regime fails to meet basic standards for democracy; under such a system, incumbents almost always retain power, because they control and tend to use the state to squelch opposition, arresting or intimidating opponents, controlling media coverage, or tampering with election results.<ref name="Levitsky-Way-2002">Levitsky Steven; Way, Lucan A. (2002). "The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.". ''[[Journal of Democracy]]'', Vol. 13, No. 2, p. 51-66; here: p.&nbsp;52-53. Available as [http://scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky/files/SL_elections.pdf PDF file] via Harvard faculty page. Retrieved 2016-10-23.</ref> Writing about the phenomenon in 2002, Levitsky and Way named Serbia under [[Slobodan Milošević]] and Russia under [[Vladimir Putin]] as examples of such regimes.<ref>Levitsky&nbsp;&amp; Way (2002), p. 52.</ref> When collaborating, Levitsky brings his expertise on Latin America while Way brings his on countries of the former Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Berman |first=Sheri |date=2022-11-01 |title=Good at Being Bad |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/good-at-being-bad-how-dictatorships-endure |access-date=2024-02-09 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |issue=November/December 2022 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref>

In 2018, Levitsky published ''[[How Democracies Die]]'' with fellow Harvard professor [[Daniel Ziblatt]]. The book examines the conditions that may lead democracies to break down from within, rather than due to external events such as military coups or foreign invasions. ''How Democracies Die'' received widespread praise. It spent a number of weeks on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]] and six weeks on the non-fiction bestseller list of the German weekly ''[[Der Spiegel]]''.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-159073580.html
 | title = Sachbuch
 | date = 25 August 2018
 | website = Spiegel Online
 | publisher = Der Spiegel
 | access-date = 8 December 2019
}}</ref> The book was recognized as one of the best nonfiction books of 2018 by the ''[[Washington Post]]'', [[Time (Magazine)|''Time'']], and ''[[Foreign Affairs]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/9781524762940/ |title= How Democracies Die |author=<!--Not stated--> |website= Penguin Random House |access-date= 13 March 2019}}</ref> Levitsky and Ziblatt have co-authored numerous [[Op-ed|opinion articles]] on American democracy in the [[The New York Times|''New York Times'']].<ref>{{cite news
 | last1 = Levitsky
 | first1 = Steven
 | last2 = Ziblatt
 | first2 = Daniel
 | title = Why Republicans Play Dirty: They fear that…
 | work = [[The New York Times]]
 | date = 20 September 2019
 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/opinion/republicans-democracy-play-dirty.html
 | access-date = 8 December 2019 }}
</ref>

== Personal life ==
Levitsky is married to Liz Mineo, a Peruvian journalist with degrees from the [[National University of San Marcos]] and [[Columbia University]] who currently works at ''[[The Harvard Gazette]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20090516/News/305169958 |title= Daily News reporter chosen for Harvard fellowship |author=<!--Not stated--> |website= The MetroWest Daily News |access-date= 18 August 2019}}</ref> They live with their daughter in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]]. Levitsky is [[American Jews|Jewish]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Friedman|first=Gabe|date=October 27, 2015|title=The 'lifelong Zionists' who called for an Israel boycott. In a Washington Post op-ed, professors Steven Levitsky and Glen Weyl urged economic sanctions on Jewish state|newspaper=[[The Times of Israel]]|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-lifelong-zionists-who-called-for-an-israel-boycott/|quote=An Op-Ed co-written last Friday by two American Jewish professors has stirred Internet controversy, with the focus largely on their use of four words: 'We are lifelong Zionists.'}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-12-02 |title=Steven Levitsky: America’s descent into authoritarianism |url=https://www.freethoughttoday.com/free/steven-levitsky-americas-descent-into-authoritarianism/ |access-date=2026-04-19 |website=Freethought Today |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Awards and honors ==
* Awarded the 2019 [[Goldsmith Book Prize]] by the [[Harvard Shorenstein Center]] for ''How Democracies Die'' along with Daniel Ziblatt<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 14, 2019 |title=How Democracies Die Wins 2019 Goldsmith Book Prize |url=https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/announcements/how-democracies-die-wins-2019-goldsmith-book-prize/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=[[Penguin Random House]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
* Awarded the 2019 Global Policy Book Award by the Loyola Marymount Global Policy Institute for ''How Democracies Die''<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 24, 2019 |title=2019 Global Policy Institute Book Award Presented to Steven Levitsky |url=https://newsroom.lmu.edu/administrative/2019-global-policy-institute-book-award-presented-to-steven-levitsky/ |access-date=March 13, 2025 |website=LMU Newsroom}}</ref>
* Awarded the 2023 Juan Linz Best Book Prize by the [[American Political Science Association]] for ''Revolution and Dictatorship'' along with Lucan Way<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 29, 2023 |title=Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way Win Juan Linz Best Book Prize |url=https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/news/steven-levitsky-and-lucan-way-win-juan-lin-best-book-prize |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=[[Weatherhead Center for International Affairs]] |language=en}}</ref>
* Named a 2024 Walter Channing Cabot Fellow by the [[Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 21, 2024 |title=Fourteen faculty named Cabot Fellows |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/newsplus/fourteen-faculty-named-cabot-fellows/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=[[Harvard Gazette]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
* Winner of the Harvard Hillel's 2025 Latke vs. Hamantasch Debate<ref>{{Cite web |last=Patel |first=Dhruv T. |last2=Sundar |first2=Saketh |date=March 9, 2025 |title=Levitsky Secures Underdog Victory Over Pinker at Latke vs. Hamantasch Debate |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/3/10/levitsky-pinker-latke-hamantaschen-debate/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=[[The Harvard Crimson]]}}</ref>

== Selected bibliography ==
{{Library resources box|about=no|by=yes}}

=== Books ===
* 2023. ''Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point''. (with [[Daniel Ziblatt]]). New York. Crown. {{ISBN|978-0-593-44307-1}}
* 2022. ''Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism''. (with Lucan Way). [[Princeton University Press]].
* 2018. ''[[How Democracies Die]]''. (with Daniel Ziblatt). New York: [[Crown Publishing Group|Crown]]. {{ISBN|978-1-5247-6293-3}}. – [[NDR Kultur Sachbuchpreis]] 2018; [[Goldsmith Book Prize]] 2019
* 2010. ''Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War''. (with Lucan A. Way). New York: [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-521-88252-1}}.
* 2006. ''Informal Institutions and Democracy: Lessons from Latin America''. (edited with Gretchen Helmke). Baltimore: [[Johns Hopkins University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8018-8351-4}}.
* 2005. ''Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness''. (edited with M. Victoria Murillo). University Park: [[Penn State University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-271-02715-9}}.
* 2003. ''Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective''. New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-81677-9}}. [Published in Spanish as ''Transformación del Justicialismo: Del Partido Sindical al Partido Clientelista''. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2005]

=== Journal articles ===
{{Update section|date=February 2024|reason=Missing more recent journal articles since 2009}}
* 2025. "The Path to American Authoritarianism: What Comes After Democratic Breakdown" (with Lucan A. Way). ''Foreign Affairs''. 11 February 2025. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levitsky |first1=Steven |last2=Way |first2=Lucan A. |title=The Path to American Authoritarianism: What Comes After Democratic Breakdown" Foreign Affairs |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=11 February 2025 |url=https://ash.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Levitsky-Way-2025-The-Path-to-American-Authoritarianism-What-Comes-After-Democratic-Breakdown.pdf |access-date=25 April 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
* 2009. “Variation in Institutional Strength: Causes and Implications” (with María Victoria Murillo). ''Annual Review of Political Science''. 12: 115-133.
* 2007. "Organizacion Informal de los Partidos en America Latina" [Informal Party Organization in Latin America] (with Flavia Freidenberg). ''Desarrollo Económico'' (Argentina) 46, No. 184: 539-568.
* 2007. “Linkage, Leverage and the Post-Communist Divide” (with Lucan A. Way). ''East European Politics and Societies'' 27, No. 21: 48-66.
* 2006. “The Dynamics of Autocratic Coercive Capacity after the Cold War” (with Lucan Way). ''Communist and Post-Communist Studies'' 39, No. 3: 387-410.
* 2006. “Organized Labor and Democracy in Latin America” (with Scott Mainwaring). ''Comparative Politics'' 39, No. 1 (October): 21-42.
* 2006. “Linkage versus Leverage: Rethinking the International Dimension of Regime Change” (with Lucan Way). ''Comparative Politics'' 38, No. 4 (July): 379-400.
* 2005. “International Linkage and Democratization” (with Lucan Way). ''Journal of Democracy''. 16, No. 3 (July): 20-34.
* 2004. “Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda” (with Gretchen Helmke). ''Perspectives on Politics'' 2, No. 4 (December): 725-740.
* 2003. “Argentina Weathers the Storm” (with M. Victoria Murillo). ''Journal of Democracy'' 14, No. 4 (October): 152-166.
* 2003. “From Labor Politics to Machine Politics: The Transformation of Party-Union Linkages in Argentine Peronism, 1983-99.” ''Latin American Research Review'' 38, No. 3: 3-36. [Also published in ''Desarrollo Económico'', Argentina]
* 2003. “Explaining Populist Party Adaptation in Latin America: Environmental and Organizational Determinants of Party Change in Argentina, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela” (with Katrina Burgess). ''Comparative Political Studies'' 36, No. 8 (October): 859-880.
* 2003. “Democracy without Parties? Political Parties and Regime Change in Fujimori's Peru” (with Maxwell Cameron). ''Latin American Politics and Society'' 45, No. 3 (Fall): 1-33. [Also published in ''Instituciones y Desarrollo'', Spain]
* 2002. [http://scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky/files/SL_elections.pdf “Elections Without Democracy: The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism”] (with Lucan Way). ''Journal of Democracy'' 13, No. 2 (April): 51-66. [Also published in ''Estudios Políticos'', Columbia, Vol. 24, July 2004]
* 2001. “Organization and Labor-Based Party Adaptation: The Transformation of Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective.” ''World Politics'' 54, No. 1 (October): 27-56.
* 2001. “Inside the Black Box: Recent Studies of Latin American Party Organizations.” ''Studies in Comparative International Development'' 36, No. 2 (summer): 92-110.
* 2001. “An ‘Organized Disorganization’: Informal Organization and the Persistence of Local Party Structures in Argentine Peronism.” ''Journal of Latin American Studies'' 33, No. 1 (February): 29-66. [Also published in ''Revista de Ciencias Sociales'', Argentina, October 2001]
* 2000. “The ‘Normalization’ of Argentine Politics.” ''Journal of Democracy'' 11, No. 2 (April): 56-69.
* 1999. “Fujimori and Post-Party Politics in Peru.” ''Journal of Democracy'' 10, No. 3 (July): 78-92.
* 1998. “Crisis, Party Adaptation, and Regime Stability in Argentina: The Case of Peronism, 1989-1995.” ''Party Politics'' 4, No. 4: 445-470. [Also published in ''Revista de Ciencias Sociales'', Argentina, September 1997]
* 1998. “Between a Shock and a Hard Place: The Dynamics of Labor-Backed Adjustment in Argentina and Poland” (with Lucan Way). ''Comparative Politics'' 30, No. 2 (January): 171-192.
* 1998. “Institutionalization and Peronism: The Case, the Concept, and the Case for Unpacking the Concept.” ''Party Politics'' 4, No. 1 (January): 77-92.
* 1997. “Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research” (with David Collier), ''World Politics'' 49, No. 3 (April): 430-51. [Also published in ''Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica'', December 1997; ''Agora'', Buenos Aires, January 1998; and ''La Politica'', Barcelona, October 1998]
* 1991. “FSLN Congress: A Cautious First Step.” ''Journal of Communist Studies'' 7, No. 4 (December): 539-544.

== References ==
<references/>

== External links ==
*[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/will-trump-follow-the-playbook-of-autocrats/id1565434905?i=1000676288885 Appearance on ''Two Reporters'', November 9, 2024 - Will Trump follow the playbook of autocrats who destroyed the democracies that brought them to power?]
*[https://www.dailyparliamenttimes.com/2025/05/25/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt-through-the-lens-of-modis-india/ Appearance on Daily Parliament Times, May 25, 2025]
*{{C-SPAN|112214}}
*[http://scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky/ Curriculum vitae at Harvard University] 

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levitsky, Steven}}
[[Category:21st-century American political scientists]]
[[Category:American political philosophers]]
[[Category:Populism scholars]]
[[Category:Scholars of authoritarianism]]
[[Category:Jewish American social scientists]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]
[[Category:Ithaca High School (Ithaca, New York) alumni]]
[[Category:People from Brookline, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]