Over the past five years, democracies have been deeply imperiled by the rise of populism. From Brazil to Hungary, and from India to the United States, aspiring authoritarians have fundamentally transformed their countries.

Philanthropic supporters of democracy who recognize this danger can invest in three basic areas to shore up their countries’ political defenses against authoritarian populism: the fight against the root causes of the populist rise; the defense of democratic norms and institutions currently under fire from populists; and the development of ideas and movements that might help defenders of democracy to beat back populists at the ballot box.

For any successful philanthropic effort that hopes to counteract the structural causes of populism, the correct identification of its most important drivers is of course a necessary prerequisite. But even if they succeed in this difficult task, they have only solved the first of the momentous obstacles facing them. For, virtually by definition, all the structural drivers I enumerated are so deep and vast that it is hard to see how even the best-endowed foundations can make a meaningful contribution toward turning their tide.

This brings us to the second possible area on which to focus. Once populists are in power, they intensify their assault on the basic rules and norms of liberal democracy. For our institutions to survive, and our compatriots to have a chance to change their mind about the populists in free and fair elections, these attacks need to be beaten back.

To remedy the dangerous intellectual weaknesses of the opponents of populism, and pave the way for a fresh vision that can speak to a clear majority of citizens, philanthropies need to invest much more heavily than they do now in idea generation and the public defense of philosophically liberal ideas.

Read the full article about how philanthropy can defend democracy by Yascha Mounk at Knight Foundation.