For democratic revolutions to survive counterrevolution, they have to make certain choices that can undermine the quality of their democracy.

Killian Clarke

Political scientist Killian Clarke joins The Democracy Paradox to discuss his new book, Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed. He explains why democratic revolutions are especially vulnerable to reversal, how elites and citizens can align in counterrevolutionary movements, and what these dynamics reveal about democracy’s fragility and endurance today. Amanda Waterhouse, a postdoctoral democracy researcher at the Kellogg Institute also joins to help introduce the episode.

The Democracy Paradox is made in partnership with the Kellogg Institute of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. 

Read the full transcript here.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• Counterrevolutions as Mass Movements - 9:59
• Prevalence and Success of Counterrevolution - 19:08
• Is Counterrevolution Always Bad? - 33:22
• Why Some Revolutionaries Join the Counterrevolution - 41:12

Links

Learn more about Amanda Waterhouse.

Learn more about Killian Clarke.

Learn more about Clarke's book Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

Learn more about the Kellogg Institute.

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