Journal
DEMOCRATIZATION
Volume 27, Issue 6, Pages 909-927Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2020.1758670
Keywords
democracy; autocratization; polarization; protests; democratization
Categories
Funding
- Swedish Research Council [2018-01614, 2019/3-516]
- Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation [2018.0144]
- European Research Council [724191]
- College of Social Sciences
- Department of Political Science at University of Gothenburg
- Vice-Chancellor's office
- Swedish Research Council [2018-01614] Funding Source: Swedish Research Council
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This article analyses the state of democracy in the world in 2019. We demonstrate that the third wave of autocratization is accelerating and deepening. The dramatic loss of eight democracies in the last year sets a new record in the rate of breakdowns. Exemplifying this crisis is Hungary, now the EU's first ever authoritarian member state. Governmental assaults on civil society, freedom of expression, and the media are proliferating and becoming more severe. A new and disturbing trend is that the quality of elections is now also deteriorating in many countries. Nevertheless, there are also positive signs: pro-democracy protests reached an all-time high in 2019. People are taking to the streets to protest the erosion of democracies and challenge dictators. Popular protests have contributed to substantial democratization in 22 countries over the last ten years - including Armenia, Tunisia, and Ecuador. This was before the Covid-19 pandemic. Responses to the crisis, including many states of emergencies, risk further accelerating autocratization.
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