Authoritarians can lose elections, but should we be less concerned?

This is the story you often hear: In the old days, the military, fascists or communist parties seized power, destroyed democracy and suppressed people's freedoms. But today it is different: Populist parties attack democracy from within, infiltrate its institutions, destroy its debates through disinformation and, once in office, refuse to relinquish power.

This story, however, does not hold up. Not just because military coups are on the rise again (some are talking of a coup epidemic in...