Democratic backsliding or ‘de-democratisation’ describes the prospect of a democracy sliding into authoritarianism. Can it happen in consolidated democracies? Building on my work on clientelism and semi-authoritarianism, I put forward a novel thesis in a forthcoming book about how changes in the structure of the economy can propel a transition from a consolidated liberal democracy to a hybrid form of authoritarianism under nominal democratic institutions. De-democratisation is understood as the reverse socioeconomic process to the one that facilitated the rise and consolidation of liberal democracies a century and a half ago. In the process of capitalist development, an economic landscape emerged that made it possible for societies to claim and settle on democratic institutions and rights. This landscape has enabled a relatively autonomous civil society to activate the democratic rules and civic liberties its citizens acquired in order to check and constrain exercises of power. Democracy is at risk to the extent that political forces in government will alter this socioeconomic structure by reducing the autonomy of civil society from government. Extensive discretionary applications of state power in the economy favour acquiescence and loyalty and undermine political opposition by making it costlier for social agents to effectively contest exercises of political power.