Political theorists have increasingly warned that the (0) INSTABILITY (STABLE) of democratic systems is often exposed long before anyone notices it. A government's 1LEGITIMATE, once taken for granted, can be hollowed out in a matter of years if citizens cease to believe that their leaders are subject to meaningful 2ACCOUNT. The gradual 3ERODE of norms — the informal rules that elected officials once obeyed almost instinctively — tends to precede any visible breakdown of the rule of law. When the 4JUDGE is packed with sympathetic appointees, and when 5POPULIST rhetoric casts every critic as an enemy of the people, the conditions for 6AUTHORITY drift are already well established. The lesson of recent history is that the greatest threat to liberal democracy is not a sudden coup but the quiet 7COMPLACENT of citizens who assume their freedoms are permanent. Vigilance, not virtue, is the only 8DEFEND long-term strategy.