Assaf Razin received his Ph.D.in economics from the University of Chicago in 1969. He is the Mario-Henrique Simonsen Professor of Public Economics at Tel-Aviv University and the Friedman Professor of International Economics at Cornell University. Razin is a Research Fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has co-edited various professional journals such as International Tax and Public Finance. 

In an era where democratic principles face unprecedented challenges, The Transition to Illiberal Democracy sheds new light on the alarming trend for regime change towards autocracy. Drawing on recent political shifts in Hungary, Poland, Israel, and beyond, the contributions unravel the intricate web of judicial overhaul, identity politics, populism, and religious orthodoxy that underpins the erosion of democratic institutions. Through meticulous analysis, the authors unveil the insidious mechanisms employed by autocratic regimes to consolidate power and their consequences, from economic fault lines such as education gaps and identity politics, laying on religion and demography, to judicial overhaul, weakened growth, the emergence of de facto power, media manipulation, faltering foreign investment, and distortion of financial stability. Addressing inconvenient truths about the fragility of democratic systems in the face of relentless autocratic ambition, the book serves as a vital resource for understanding the perils posed by the fusion of identity politics, populism, and regime change. In a world teetering on the brink of democratic decline, the imperative to defend the fundamental principles of freedom and justice has never been more urgent.