When Democracies Adopt Tyranny: The Quiet Spread of State Terror

Veteran war correspondent Janine di Giovanni argues that state terror is seeping into democracies, with security rhetoric normalizing abuses and eroding civil liberties. Citing Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Chechnya, and Israel/Palestine, she says legalistic and bureaucratic mechanisms—surveillance, punitive funding, and restrictive immigration enforcement—mirror tyrannies, turning fear into policy and weakening democratic legitimacy. She urges urgent attention to hundreds of survivor testimonies and warns that once democracies adopt these methods, they become less secure and less trustworthy.