The seeds for this project, which were planted in my youth, came from my experiences growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, and the examples set by my forebears. To a remarkable degree, my parents and relatives—and even my ancestors before them—continued to believe in the Constitution despite the long odds stacked against them. Their faith in the promise of democratic institutions shaped my own views, which are reflected in these pages, and in my life’s work. My thanks, first and foremost, go to them.
I could not have completed this book without the help and support of the Hoover Institution and Stanford University. My special thanks go to Roberta and Steven Denning, whose professorship I hold at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; Hoover director Tom Gilligan and his longtime predecessor, John Raisian; and my dear friends and supporters Tom and Barbara Stephenson, whose chair I hold at Hoover. There is no better place to teach and do research than Stanford University.
Many people at Stanford and elsewhere—friends, experts, and former colleagues—took time out of their busy schedules to assist me with this book. I owe a significant debt of gratitude to Nancy Biffar, Niall Ferguson, Mary Meeker, and Janine Zacharia, who were generous enough to review the entire manuscript. Their feedback was tremendously helpful.
Others agreed to provide insights on different sections or chapters, including Carolina Barco, Jendayi Frazer, Steve Hadley, Steve Krasner, Anja Manuel, and David Welch, all of whom participated in the extraordinary events described in this book. Other participants in these events helped by answering questions or sitting for interviews, including Bob Gates, Alberto Gonzales, Jim Jeffrey, Zalmay Khalilizad, David Kramer, Barry Lowenkron, Dina Powell, Connie Rice, Jack Straw, Shirin Tahir-Kheli, and former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe. Several colleagues at Stanford were kind enough to read parts of the manuscript or answer questions as well, including Randy Bean, Chip Blacker, Kate Casey, Larry Diamond, Lazar Fleishman, Francis Fukuyama, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, David Holloway, David Kennedy, Mike McFaul, Abbas Milani, Sarah Shirazyan, and Amy Zegart. I greatly admire all of you and appreciate your willingness to lend a hand.
While writing this book I have relied on the support of many talented and dedicated people. Charles Nicas, my research director at Stanford, has been my partner in this process at every step of the way. In recent years we have watched as the story of democracy has continued to unfold, from the aftermath of the Arab uprisings, to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, to the U.S. presidential election of 2016. Throughout these events, and at every stage of the writing process, I have relied on Charles to keep me well updated and informed. He has been a sounding board for me and his advice and counsel has been immeasurably important.
One of the best parts of being at Stanford is working alongside some of the best students, and we would have been hard pressed to put together a better group than our research team for this book. Many of our research assistants were students in my classes; others started as interns in my office. All of them worked diligently to produce high-quality research while juggling course work and extracurricular activities, including in some cases Division I athletics. Our full-time research assistants, who worked with us in the summer months, included Patrick Cirenza, Jack Hennessy, Robert Kupstas, Matthew Levy, Geo Saba, Zach Sorenson, Elliot Stoller, and Aditya Todi. Our part-time research assistants, who worked with us during the school year, included Brendan Austin, Joseph Begovich, Matthew Colford, Conner Crane, Natalie Davies, Matthew Decker, Deirdre Hegarty, Jessica Renier, Katie Rovelstad, Kona Shen, Wayne Taylor, Molly Welch, and Meredith Wheeler.
I am very fortunate to have the support of a devoted staff, who have assisted me in writing this book in a variety of ways, not least of which was finding time on my schedule for me to write. Special thanks go to my extraordinary chief of staff, Georgia Godfrey, who has provided insight, advice, and friendship throughout this process. I want to thank too the steadfast members of my wonderful team—my event director, Shannon York (and her predecessor Elizabeth Sadler); and my office manager, Jules Thompson (and her predecessor Caroline Beswick), who always found ways to juggle my many commitments so that I could prioritize the writing of this book. I am grateful too for my longtime assistant Marilyn Stanley—for her tireless work on my behalf. Wayne Kabak of WSK Management, always a source of sage advice and an insightful reader, helped immensely in the production of this book and in finding the perfect home for it.
And last but not least, there are my partners at Twelve, who have been instrumental in bringing this book to fruition. Sean Desmond, my exceptional editor, helped me think through many thorny issues while trying to speak to multiple audiences. Thanks, Sean, for making this a better book than I ever could have produced without you. He and others at Twelve, including Carolyn Kurek and Rachel Kambury, have worked hard to strengthen this book in both substance and form.
To all of you—many thanks for your guidance, friendship, and patience.