Scott Alexander reviews a book on Erdogan's rise to power in Turkey, analyzing the factors that led to democratic backsliding and considering lessons for other democracies. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews the book 'The New Sultan: Erdogan And The Crisis Of Modern Turkey', which details Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rise to power and Turkey's shift from a flawed democracy to a partial dictatorship. The review explores Turkey's unique historical context, Erdogan's political journey, and the strategies he used to consolidate power, drawing parallels and contrasts with other countries' experiences of democratic backsliding. Shorter summary

The post examines the compatibility of Islam and liberal democracy by analyzing six Muslim-majority countries, finding a wide spectrum of outcomes and concluding that Islam often acts as an obstacle to liberal democracy. Longer summary

This post examines the compatibility of Islam and liberal democracy by analyzing six Muslim-majority countries: United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Lebanon. The authors review each country's history, constitution, democratic institutions, and human rights record to assess the extent to which liberal democracy has taken hold. They find a wide spectrum, from Tunisia's robust democracy to Iran's theocratic regime, with the other countries falling in between. The authors conclude that while it's possible for Muslim countries to adopt liberal democracy, Islam often acts as an obstacle, and most Muslim countries have only taken small steps in that direction so far. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander explores how selection bias might create the stereotype of angry, vocal atheists, and speculates on how this concept might apply to other groups. Longer summary

This post discusses how selection bias may contribute to the stereotype of atheists as loud and angry. Scott argues that while religious people are visible in many contexts, atheists are typically only noticed when criticizing religion or advocating for atheist causes. This creates a false impression that atheists are obsessed with attacking religion. The post suggests that most atheists rarely discuss their lack of belief, but these individuals don't get attention as atheists. Scott then extends this concept to other groups, speculating that similar selection biases might contribute to stereotypes about Muslims, Christians in secular areas, and even ethnic groups. Shorter summary