Democracy is often hailed as the most legitimate form of governance, based on the principles of sovereignty, accountability and individual freedoms and this is largely true. However, history shows us the other side as well, where democracies do not only collapse through coups or violent upheavals; sometimes, their undoing begins slowly from within. Elected leaders may gradually interfere with the functioning of the institutions that keep them in check. It unfolds slowly through the politicisation of oversight bodies or subtle curtailments of dissent.