The first section here has sources that reveal the rapid undermining of democracy towards an authoritarian breakthrough. They use categories to make the vast destruction graspable, charts to make it visible, and trackers to show the depth.

The second section introduces the research, strategy, and practice of resistance movements.

Authoritarian Playbook 2025: How an authoritarian president will dismantle our democracy and what we can do to protect it. – January 2024

Bright Line Watch: Monitoring democratic practices, resilience, and threats.

Trump’s Authoritarian Action Tracker | introduction at week 3

Categories:

• Undermining Democratic Institutions & Rule of Law; Dismantling federal government

• Suppressing Dissent & Controlling Information

• Dismantling Social Protections & Civil Rights; Enrichment & Corruption

• Attacking Science, Environment, Health, Arts, & Education

• Aggressive Foreign Policy & Global Destabilization; Nationalism

Trump Tyranny Tracker: Daily recap of power grabs, lawless moves, and the fight to stop Trump.

Trump is deploying 10 tools to become an autocratic leader

1. Weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice for political purposes

2. Ending the independence of independent agencies

3. Replacing expert civil servants with political loyalists

4. Circumventing Congress' power to decide how to spend federal funds through presidential impoundment

5. Weakening the independent media and news reporting

6. Misusing the Insurrection Act against Americans to stifle dissent

7. Neutralizing the Senate's role of confirming executive branch nominees

8. Attacking the rule of law

9. Threatening elections and serving a third term

10. Launching government attacks on civil society and perceived enemies

In backsliding democracies, political corruption becomes a feature, not a bug, used to reward loyalists and co-opt dissenters.

Project 2025 Tracker: Tracks the implementation of Project 2025.

Defending Democracy

Research, strategy, and practice of resisting authoritarian regimes.

One Million Rising Project: Indivisible’s nonviolent resistance movement. Training people in the strategy and practice of peaceful non-cooperation to undermine an authoritarian regime.

Protests, political violence and its alternatives with Erica Chenoweth: Interview about the study that found that 3.5% of the population taking to the streets (plus strategic non-cooperation) is enough to block authoritarian takeover; WITHpod & transcript

In-Depth

Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know (book) | Why Civil Resistance Works (book), shorter PDF

Horizons Project

Nonviolent Action Lab: Understanding how nonviolent action can achieve democratic aims.

podcast: The latest research, insights, and ideas on how nonviolent action can — or sometimes fails — to transform injustice.

In the HKS Ash Center for research and teaching on advancing democracy through civil resistance.

Pro-democracy Organizing against Autocracy in the United States: A Strategic Assessment & Recommendations: Chenoweth & Marks, PDF

Q&A and Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule: Chenoweth, PDF

Waging Nonviolence

Why Protest?

• Mass nonviolent protests build a sense of unity, connection, and visible size.

• Show decision-makers that lots of people are fed up.

• Shift social norms about what’s acceptable and what isn’t.

• Create the social permission for groups to stop complying with the authoritarian status quo.

• Strengthen the resolve within various institutions to stand up for democracy.

• Invite lots of people to join us. We need large-scale mobilization per the 3.5% "rule".

• Elicit loyalty shifts within key pillars of support.

• It needs to be combined with strategic non-cooperation, like the Montgomery bus boycott.

• The 2018 blue wave is directly tied to the number of people who turned out at 2017 women’s marches.

Intro Videos

Intro: What’s Next in the Fight?: Concise intro to winning pro-democracy campaigns, pillars of support, and strategic non-cooperation from Maria Stephan, 10 min segment in the No Kings #1 debrief

Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know: Erica Chenoweth, 11 min

History and Practice of Nonviolent Resistance: What makes a successful movement, Erica Chenoweth, 18 min

The success of nonviolent civil resistance: TEDx, Erica Chenoweth, 13 min

Why Civil Resistance Works: Erica Chenoweth, 8 min

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict: Maria Stephan, 7 min

Long-Form Videos

A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict - A documentary series of case studies in six 1/2 hour segments. Episode 1: India, USA, South Africa. Episode 2: Denmark, Poland, Chile.

Bringing Down a Dictator - 55 min documentary on Otpor! defeating Milosevic in Yugoslavia

The Power and Promise of Nonviolent Action - Maria Stephan, 90 min