PERSPECTIVE Democratic Expeditions Tracing illiberal talk How far-right rhetoric erodes ­democracy before policies change Lisa Zanotti and Hugo Marcos-Marné The internal structure of illiberal trends – and the words that lie behind On 6 January 2021, a mob stormed the US Capitol. Two years later, on 8 January 2023, a similar assault unfolded in Brazil’s Praça dos Três Poderes. These out ­breaks did not occur in a vacuum. Rather they oc ­curred in the wake of years of sustained rhetorical campaigns that delegitimised electoral processes, framed political opponents as existential threats, and normalised violence as a legitimate political tool. Be ­fore the assault on institutions came the assault on language. Nevertheless, democratic actors worldwide remain disproportionately focused on tracking policy changes – such as immigration restrictions, judicial appointments and media regulations – while the dis ­cursive groundwork for those policies lies in plain sight, normalised through repetition and diffused from the radical fringe to mainstream politics. To counter the illiberal consequences of the global far-right wave effectively, we must first understand language as its primary weapon. Why discourse matters more than we think Contemporary far-right parties rarely advocate democracy’s outright destruction. Unlike the fascist movements of the twentieth century, today’s illiberal actors work within dem ­ocratic systems, eroding them from the inside(Rovira Kalt ­wasser et al., 2024). Their strategies are subtler and, argua ­bly, more dangerous because they try to hide any elements that may be unacceptable to large sectors of the population. Such an approach relies on a sustained assault on the ­institutions and norms that protect minority rights, ensure judicial independence and guarantee a free press. All of this is conducted in language long before tangible illiberal policies and behaviours come into place. This matters for the simple reason that discourse does not require seizing control of the state. Opposition actors, Tracing illiberal talk – How far-right rhetoric erodes ­democracy before policies change 1