The biggest threats to a genuine democracy are economic in nature.

The biggest threat to basic democratic principles, i.e. Freedom and Equality, are economic principles. That may sound strange, because economies are necessary to democracies, but economic principles have nothing to do with democratic principles. Unfortunately, individuals become too attached to money and possessions. In and of itself, that is not so bad as is the greed that overwhelms them. Greed then becomes the underlying basis for living, working, and being influential in the democratic social. Of course, we know that the basic political principles of a democracy are the freedom and equality of each individual situated at the Bottom of government. We also know that our economy would not be functional without profits. Profits drive the economy; freedom and equality drives a democracy. There has never been a democratic principle that the Top of government must be occupied by the rich, the wealthy, or the top 1%. Most people at the Bottom are not rich. Yet, their freedom and equality is as sacred to them, as it might be to the 1%. I say, "might be to the 1%", because, for all we know, the money and possessions of the 1% might be the only thing important to them. Nevertheless, most of them would not have accumulated those amounts of money and possessions, if they had lived in an autocracy, or even in a Plutocracy. Its strange that the richest people should be the most thankful that they live in a democracy but, instead, try to influence government in such a way as too accumulate even more money. That's the threat to democracy; the substitution of an economic principle for the democratic principles of freedom and equality. The largest culprit in that 're-evaluation' of democratic principles is the corporation; and to boot, its not even a real individual; its a legal fiction.