Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-01T13:03:40.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Global Challenges to Democracy: Backsliding, Resiliency, and Democratic Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2025

By
Kenneth M. Roberts ,
Valerie J. Bunce ,
Thomas B. Pepinsky  and
Rachel Beatty Riedl
Edited by
Valerie J. Bunce ,
Thomas B. Pepinsky ,
Rachel Beatty Riedl  and
Kenneth M. Roberts
Valerie J. Bunce
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Thomas B. Pepinsky
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Rachel Beatty Riedl
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Kenneth M. Roberts
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

Following democracy’s global advance in the late twentieth century, recent patterns of democratic “backsliding” have generated extensive scholarly debate. Since backsliding towards autocracy is often the work of elected leaders operating within democratic institutions, it challenges conventional thinking about democratic consolidation, the enforcement of institutional checks and balances, and the reproduction of democratic norms. Drawing insights from classic literature on democratic transitions and consolidation, this volume examines the nature of contemporary threats to democracy, recognizing that the central challenge is not always to induce the compliance of those who lose elections, but rather those who emerge victorious and turn the institutional leverage of incumbency into a source of ongoing competitive advantage. There is, then, both a “loser’s dilemma” and a “winner’s dilemma” embedded in the study of democratic resiliency. Patterns of backsliding have revealed the contingent and potentially contested underpinnings of democratic institutions in any political order, given the presence (whether latent or active) of authoritarian political and cultural currents. Democracy is, therefore, best understood not as a standardized regime template or a static endpoint of political development, but rather as a dialectical frontier that advances ‒ and sometimes recedes ‒ according to the dynamic interplay countervailing forces.

Keywords

Democratic backslidingconsolidationchecks and balancesdemocratic normsloser’s dilemmawinner’s dilemmademocratic contingencydemocratic dialectic
Type
Chapter
Information
Global Challenges to Democracy
Comparative Perspectives on Backsliding, Autocracy, and Resilience
 , pp. 7 - 32
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Albertus, Michael and Grossman, Guy. 2021. “The Americas: When Do Voters Support Power Grabs?” Journal of Democracy 32, 2: 116–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albertus, Michael and Menaldo, Victor. 2018. Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Alizada, Nazifa, Cole, Rowan, Gastaldi, Lisa, Grahn, Sandra, Hellmeier, Sebastian, Kolvani, Palina, Lachapelle, Jean, Lührmann, Anna, Maerz, Seraphine F., Pillai, Shreeya, and Lindberg, Staffan I.. 2021. Autocratization Turns Viral. Democracy Report 2021. University of Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute.Google Scholar
Almond, Gabriel A. and Verba, Sidney. 1963. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Christopher J., Blais, André, Bowler, Shaun, Donavon, Todd, and Listhaug, Ola. 2005. Losers’ Consent: Elections and Democratic Legitimacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ansell, Ben W. and Samuels, David J.. 2014. Inequality and Democratization: An Elite-Competition Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, Sheri. 1997. “Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic,” World Politics 49, 3: 401–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, Sheri. 2019. Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Régime to the Present Day. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bermeo, Nancy. 2016. “On Democratic Backsliding,” Journal of Democracy 27, 1: 5–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bermeo, Nancy and Yashar, Deborah J., eds. 2016. Parties, Movements, and Democracy in the Developing World. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, Rachel. 2020. How the Tea Party Captured the GOP: Insurgent Factions in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunce, Valerie J. 1999. Subversive Institutions: The Design and the Destruction of Socialism and the State. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunce, Valerie J. 2003. “Rethinking Democratization: Lessons from the Postcommunist Experience,” World Politics 55, 2 (January): 167–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, Max. 2021. “The US Capitol Raid Was a Failed Self-Coup Previously Seen in Dying Regimes,” The Conversation, Jan. 10 (https://tinyurl.com/2s36dax7).Google Scholar
Carothers, Thomas. 2002. “The End of the Transitions Paradigm,” Journal of Democracy 13, 1: 5‒21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carothers, Thomas and Feldman, Benjamin. 2023. Understanding and Supporting Democratic Bright Spots. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (https://tinyurl.com/4xkf2jns).Google Scholar
“Comment and Controversy: Special Issue on Democratic Backsliding.” 2024. PS: Political Science and Politics 57, 2.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry. 2015. “Facing Up to the Democratic Recession,” Journal of Democracy 26, 1: 141‒155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diamond, Larry. 2020. Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry and Plattner, Marc F.. 1993. “Introduction,” in Diamond, Larry and Plattner, Marc F., eds. The Global Resurgence of Democracy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. ix‒xxvi.Google Scholar
Freedom House. 2024. Freedom in the World 2024: The Mounting Damage of Flawed Elections and Armed Conflict. Freedom House: Washington, DC (Freedom House. 2024 annual report.pdf).Google Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis. 1989. “The End of History?” The National Interest 16 (Summer): 3‒18.Google Scholar
Gibson, Edward L. 1996. Class and Conservative Parties: Argentina in Comparative Perspective. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Goodman, Sara Wallace. 2019. “Liberal Democracy, National Identity Boundaries, and Populist Entry Points,” Critical Review, 31: 3‒4, 377–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grief, Avner and Laitin, David D.. 2004. “A Theory of Endogenous Institutional Change,” American Political Science Review 98, 4 (November): 633‒652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grzymala-Busse, Anna. 2002. Redeeming the Communist Past: The Regeneration of Communist Parties in East Central Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haggard, Stephan and Kaufman, Robert. 2021. Backsliding: Democratic Regress in the Contemporary World. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewison, Kevin, and Kitirianglarp, Kengkij. 2010. “‘Thai-Style Democracy’: A Conservative Struggle for Thailand’s Politics,” in Isager, Lotte and Ivarsson, Sore, eds. Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.Google Scholar
Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2018. Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. New York: New Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 1991. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late 20th Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
International Idea. 2021. The Global State of Democracy 2021: Building Resilience in a Pandemic Era. Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (https://tinyurl.com/3e68zsxd).Google Scholar
Karl, Terry Lynn. 1987. “Petroleum and Political Pacts: The Transition to Democracy in Venezuela,” Latin American Research Review 22: 63‒94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krishnarajan, Suthan. 2023. “Rationalizing Democracy: The Perceptual Bias and (Un)Democratic Behavior,” American Political Science Review 117, 2: 474‒496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven and Way, Lucan A.. 2010. Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven and Way, Lucan A.. 2023. “Democracy’s Surprising Resilience,” Journal of Democracy 34, 4: 5‒20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven and Ziblatt, Daniel. 2018. How Democracies Die. New York: Crown Publishing.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven and Ziblatt, Daniel. 2023. Tyranny of the Minority: How American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point. New York: Crown Publishing.Google Scholar
Lindberg, Staffan I. 2006. Democracy and Elections in Africa. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linz, Juan J. 1978. The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes: Crisis, Breakdown, and Reequilibration. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan J. 1990. “The Perils of Presidentialism,” Journal of Democracy 1, 1: 51‒69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linz, Juan J. and Stepan, Alfred C.. 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1959. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy,” American Political Science Review 53, 1: 69‒105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, Andrew T. and Meng, Anne. 2024. “Measuring Democratic Backsliding,” PS: Political Science and Politics 57, 2: 149‒161.Google Scholar
Loxton, James. 2021. Conservative Party-Building in Latin America: Authoritarian Inheritance and Counter-Revolutionary Struggle. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lührmann, Anna and Lindberg, Staffan I.. 2019. “A Third Wave of Autocratization Is Here: What Is New About It?” Democratization 26, 7: 1095‒1113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madison, James. 1787. Federalist Papers #10.Google Scholar
Mainwawring, Scott and Pérez-Liñán, Aníbal. 2013. Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug and Kloos, Karina. 2014. Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Valeriya, Mechkova, Lührmann, Anna, and Lindberg, Staffan I.. 2017. “How Much Democratic Backsliding?” Journal of Democracy 28, 4: 162‒169.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne and Lieberman, Robert C.. 2020. Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.Google Scholar
Meyer, David S. and Tarrow, Sidney, eds. 2018. The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miao, Kenny and Brownlee, Jason. 2022. “Debate: Why Democracies Survive,” Journal of Democracy 33, 4: 133‒149.Google Scholar
Mickey, Robert. 2015. Paths Out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America’s Deep South, 1944‒1972. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, Barrington. 1966. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Mounk, Yascha. 2018. The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudde, Cas and Rovira Kaltwasser, Cristóbal. 2013. “Exclusionary vs. Inclusionary Populism: Comparing the Contemporary Europe and Latin America,” Government and Opposition 48, 2: 147‒174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marina, Nord, Lundstedt, Martin, Altman, David, Angiolillo, Fabio, Borella, Cecilia, Fernandes, Tiago, Gastaldi, Lisa, Good God, Ana, Natsika, Natalia, and Lindberg, Staffan I.. 2024. Democracy Report 2024: Democracy Winning and Losing at the Ballot. University of Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Guillermo. 1994. “Delegative Democracy,” Journal of Democracy 5, 1: 55‒69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Donnell, Guillermo and Schmitter, Philippe C.. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Parker, Christopher S. and Barreto, Matt A.. 2013. Change They Can’t Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Pepinsky, Thomas B. 2020. “Migrants, Minorities, and Populism in Southeast Asia,” Pacific Affairs 93, 3: 593‒610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pepinsky, Thomas B. 2017. “Southeast Asia: Voting against Disorder,” Journal of Democracy 28, 2: 120‒31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plattner, Marc F. 1993. “The Democratic Moment,” in Diamond, Larry and Plattner, Marc F., eds. The Global Resurgence of Democracy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 26‒38.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam. 1991. Democracy and the Market: Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Przeworski, Adam. 2005. “Democracy As an Equilibrium,” Public Choice 123, 3/4: 253‒273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Przeworski, Adam. 2019. Crises of Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Przeworski, Adam, Alvarez, Michael E., Cheibub, Jose, and Limongi, Fernando. 2000. Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950‒1990. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riedl, Rachel Beatty. 2014. Authoritarian Origins of Democratic Party Systems. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riedl, Rachel Beatty, Friesen, Paul, McCoy, Jennifer, and Roberts, Kenneth M.. 2023. “Democratic Backsliding, Resilience, and Resistance,” World Politics 75, 5 (Advanced Access: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/917802/pdf).Google Scholar
Dietrich, Rueschemeyer, Huber Stephens, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 1992. Capitalist Development and Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rustow, Dankwart. 1970. “Transition to Democracy: Towards a Dynamic Model,” Comparative Politics 2 (April): 337‒363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schedler, Andreas. 1998. “What Is Democratic Consolidation?” Journal of Democracy 9, 2: 91‒107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schedler, Andreas. 2002. “Elections without Democracy: The Menu of Manipulation,” Journal of Democracy, 13 2: 36‒50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitter, Philippe C. and Karl, Terry Lynn. 1991. “What Democracy Is … and Is Not,” Journal of Democracy 2, 3: 75‒88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, Matthew. 2018. “Delegating Away Democracy: How Good Representation and Policy Successes Can Undermine Democratic Legitimacy,” Comparative Political Studies 51, 13: 1754‒1788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Timothy. 2017. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York: Crown Publishers.Google Scholar
Stenner, Karen. 2005. The Authoritarian Dynamic. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svolik, Milan W. 2019a. “Democracy As an Equilibrium: Rational Choice and Formal Political Theory in Democratization Research,” Democratization 26, 1: 40‒60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svolik, Milan W. 2019b. “Polarization versus Democracy,” Journal of Democracy 30, 3: 20‒32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 2007. Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Tracking the Trump Criminal Cases.” 2024. Politico (https://tinyurl.com/2b9cs7rp).Google Scholar
Treisman, Daniel. 2023. “How Great Is the Current Danger to Democracy? Assessing the Risk with Historical Data,” Comparative Political Studies 56, 12: 1924‒1952.Google Scholar
Tufekci, Zeynep. 2020. “This Must Be Your First,” The Atlantic, Dec. 7 (https://tinyurl.com/4vxfzy2y).Google Scholar
Waldner, David and Lust, Ellen. 2018. “Unwelcome Change: Coming to Terms with Democratic Backsliding,” Annual Review of Political Science 21: 93–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weingast, Barry. 1997. “The Political Foundations of Democracy and the Rule of Law,” American Political Science Review 91, 2: 245‒263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, Joseph and Friedman, Edward. 2008. Political Transitions in Dominant Party Systems: Learning to Lose. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yashar, Deborah J. 1999. “Democracy, Indigenous Movements, and the Postliberal Challenge in Latin America,” World Politics 52, 1: 76‒104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziblatt, Daniel. 2017. Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×