The global political system faces a triple crisis of epochal proportions: climate change, the neoliberal era’s uncertain future and the rise of geopolitical conflict. The onset of these three crises has brought renewed focus to enduring challenges for democracy and has called into question whether we are entering an era of democratic backsliding or fundamental renovation.
Democracies face both external and internal threats to their stability, including the 2009 global recession, the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, military conflict, disinformation campaigns and great power politics. Internally, they are struggling with disruptions to their social fabric and coping with the effects of technology, polarization, diversity, weak education and income inequality.
This heightened uncertainty has prompted some people to reject democracy as an undesirable or ineffective form of government. The resurgence of anti-democratic practices around the world threatens the values it embodies, including free and fair elections, civil liberties and rule of law. It also poses a security risk, as autocratic regimes are less likely to respect the rights of their citizens or the interests of their allies and they may be more willing to act aggressively against others.
While dominant interpretations of the democracy in crisis focus on negative trends, the reality is more complex. Although these global crises do turbo charge democratic erosion, they have also triggered some positive dynamics that can help halt the backsliding and expand the 20th century democracy movement. This guide collects key resources to explain these evolving patterns and how they relate to the three overlapping crises currently battering the global political system.