Is the U.S. slipping into 'Competitive Authoritarianism?'

Hungary's then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban shakes hands with President Trump At the "Board of Peace" meeting during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on January 22. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via hide caption toggle caption Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via What kind of political system do we have in America these days? Some experts say the United States is no longer a liberal democracy, but operating under a system called "competitive authoritarianism." For this installment of NPR's Word of the Week , we explore the term's origin story and how it is being applied in a way those who came up with it never imagined. If you're not familiar with the term, here is a basic definition: Competitive authoritarian countries have democratic rules and hold competitive elections, but the party in charge uses various tactics to tilt the electoral playing field in its favor to maintain power. Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard who helped come up with the concept, explained it last year on NPR member station WAMU's show, 1A . "Elected authoritarians, when they come to power, try to convert the state, which is supposed to be a neutral arbiter, into both a weapon and a shield," said Levitsky, who co-authored the book How Democracies Die . …