![]() ![]() ![]() Sometimes we refer to countries like El Salvador and Hungary as ‘backsliding’, a term that should not always be taken to mean a clean reversion to an earlier pre-democratic era it can also mark a move towards a novel form of anti-democratic politics. Iran and Myanmar are authoritarian regimes in search of self-preservation. In places as varied as El Salvador, Hungary, Iran and Myanmar, governing elites are attempting to forge new, or reinvigorate old social contracts using various anti- democratic means. But it is not a straightforward process, as the rejection of Chile’s new draft constitution has demonstrated. For example, the collective uprising against the failed Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka cut across previous ethnic and socio-political cleavages. In some states governments and their people are renegotiating these social contracts. There is now a growing popular realization that many of the world’s social contracts are no longer fit for purpose. Social contracts vary depending on the cultural and historical context, but all democracies share certain core commonalties, including respect for individual civil and political rights, fair and competitive elections, a reasonably equal exercise of power by the governed over their government, and effective access to a set of entitlements that make a dignified and meaningful life possible. Discontent at the neverending stream of Chinese lockdowns and the tens of thousands of draft dodgers fleeing Russia for an uncertain existence in the South Caucasus and Central Asia show that it is not just in democracies where the social contract is in urgent need of renewal. These troubling questions were present well before democracies had to address the grotesque inequities within and between countries exposed by the pandemic, and the inflation, shortages, and threats of a global economic downturn that have followed.īut contrary to what democratic pessimists may suggest, authoritarian countries and alternative systems of government have not outperformed their democratic peers. Yet the ability of democracies around the world to provide key public goods to their citizens and to close the gap between social expectations and institutional performance is increasingly at risk. The core of any social contract is that citizens consent to be governed in return for certain core goods provided by those who govern. This is immensely worrying for those who care about the fate of democracy, but sadly not surprising. Global opinion surveys show that this period has coincided with declining public faith in the value of democracy itself. ![]() The recent series of global crises-including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and conflicts in Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria and Yemen, and their rippling effects-appear to indicate the emergence of a new status quo, defined by radical volatility and uncertainty, rather than a deviation from previous historical trends. This report will once again take up the argument that it is democracy, rather than 21st century inventions such as electoral autocracy or illiberal democracy-let alone the resurrection of 19th century imperial revanchism and spheres of influence- that provides the necessary tools to solve today’s urgent problems. It is a testament to how political shocks can quickly reorient our thinking. That report mixed cautious optimism about the previous decades’ advances in democracy with warnings about more recent ‘trendless fluctuations’-a stagnation of democracy, rather than its erosion. Much has changed since International IDEA produced its first Global State of Democracy Report in 2017, authored on the eve of Brexit and soon after the election of Donald Trump. Beyond the lingering pandemic, today’s wars and a looming global recession, lies the challenge of climate change and all it entails-severe weather events, the necessary green transition and multi-fold consequences for democratic governance. The steady drumbeat of such warnings-included in the previous edition of this report, which was produced at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic-always runs the risk of becoming background noise, as today’s crisis can quickly become tomorrow’s new normal. The fourth edition of the Global State of Democracy Report comes at a time when democracy is under both literal and figurative assault around the world. 1.1 Global Patterns Chapter 2 - Regional trendsĢ.4 The Americas Chapter 3 - Recommendationsģ.2 Regional recommendations Chapter 4 - ConclusionsĪbout the Global State of Democracy Initiative ![]()
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