How to Lose a Country
The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship

‘It couldn’t happen here’ Ece Temelkuran heard reasonable people in America say it the night Trump’s election was soundtracked by chants of ‘Build that wall.’ She heard reasonable people in Britain say it the night of the Brexit vote. She heard reasonable people in Turkey say it as Erdo?an rigged elections, rebuilt the economy around cronyism, and labelled his opposition as terrorists. How to Lose a Country Proposing alternative, global answers to the pressing – and too often paralysing – poltical questions of our time, Temelkuran explores the insidious idea of ‘real people’, the infantilisation of language and debate, the way laughter can prove a false friend, and the dangers of underestimating one’s opponent. She weaves memoir, history and clear-sighted argument into an urgent and eloquent defence of democracy. No longer can the reasonable comfort themselves with ‘it couldn’t happen here.’ It is happening. And soon it may be too late.