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Vol. 39 No. 3 — April 2022

This complex, worldwide turmoil may at first seem beyond our grasp, but there is a new, big-picture explanation. It’s the Global State of Democracy 2021 (GSoD) report, a thorough analysis of the manifold assaults on democratic institutions worldwide. GSoD is a massive project that synthesizes large datasets into a coherent framework for understanding the troubled status of democratic institutions. It’s firmly in support of democracy and has done the good service of putting forth a blunt assessment of its severe challenges.  

A DEMOCRATIC IDEA

GSoD is produced by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), a large intergovernmental organization with a mission to “advance democracy worldwide.” It was founded in 1995 with 14 member states and now has 34 (not including the U.S., China, Russia, or the U.K.). It carries out a large program of assistance efforts and publications and is supported primarily by its members.

The 2021 GSoD was preceded by editions in 2017 and 2019. It is the flagship in a suite of reports. The main 65-page report was issued in November 2021 and is accompanied by four regional reports. All are based largely on two supporting International IDEA reports: The Global State of Democracy Indices provides extensive country-level data, and the Global Monitor of COVID-19’s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights delves deeply into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on governance and human rights. All of these documents are available from International IDEA, along with hundreds of other reports, studies, announcements, and graphics.  

THE ANALYSIS

The 2021 GSoD covers 165 countries. Its discussion concentrates on the past few years, but its major dataset (the aforementioned Global State of Democracy Indices)  covers 1975–2020. These data are supplemented by hundreds of authoritative external reports and studies, drawn from a large number of government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and public media. Many of these were published in 2021, as late as the fall, which makes GSoD very timely.

GSoD uses a two-level classification for organizing democratic institutions. The top level has five Attributes that represent major components of a democratic system: elections, legislative systems, judicial systems, civil rights, etc. The second level divides each Attribute into smaller Subattributes. A numerical score is calculated for each country’s performance on each Attribute and Subattribute. There is no overall global score. GSoD also classifies countries’ governance as Democratic, Authoritarian, or Hybrid (a blend of the first two).

GSoD’s overall findings are somber for democracy’s supporters. In the past several years, democracy has receded in many more countries than it has advanced. These ebbs and flows occur in complex mixes around the globe. It is not just a case of wealthy countries versus poor ones. Western democracies have suffered numerous setbacks, most notably the U.S., which experienced sharp declines in several indicators, while several sub-Saharan nations strengthened their institutions. Nor is it a case of democracies versus authoritarian states; India and Brazil declined, while antigovernment protests erupted in several authoritarian nations.

RECURRING PATTERNS

There are patterns that recur throughout GSoD, including the following:

• Authoritarian governments are cracking down on dissent and democratic institutions, including the free press. 2020 was the worst year for authoritarian advance.
• Democratic states are adopting antidemocratic techniques from  the authoritarian playbook.
• Election integrity is under widespread assault. GSoD refers to denial of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results, by then President Donald Trump and his supporters, as a “historic turning point.”
• COVID-19 has accelerated antidemocratic measures, including limiting assembly, compromising elections, and undermining public trust in accurate information.
• On the positive side, governmental organizations and NGOs have sporadically fought back, and  large public protests have  occurred worldwide, even in  the face of official resistance.

GSoD concludes with a detailed series of recommendations based around strengthening existing democratic institutions, revitalizing them for today’s circumstances, and resisting antidemocratic forces through greater public understanding of the democratic process.  

THE REST OF THE GSOD SUITE

The main GSoD report is supplemented by regional reports. These divide the world into four large regions and provide additional data and analysis at both regional and country levels. The report for the Americas stands oddly apart from the design of the other three regional reports, which include all of the major  countries in their regions. The main section of the Americas report covers only  Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The U.S. and Canada are given less-thorough treatment in a sidebar.

All of the GSoD reports are based substantially on the Global State of Democracy Indices. The index for each nation includes Attribute and Subattribute scores annually from 1975 to 2020. These can be compared to the score for the region and the world. The Global State of Democracy Indices is useful for delving more deeply into the experiences of an individual state. In the U.S., for example, most Attributes and Subattributes were flat or increased very slowly from 1975 to 2015. Then in 2016, they took sharp downward turns, before leveling off or slightly increasing in 2020.

The main GSoD devotes much attention to the effects of COVID-19, describing it as a principal force worldwide, with its effects generally working to regress democracy. The Global Monitor of COVID-19’s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights goes into the specifics in far greater detail. For each country Attribute and Subattribute, it aggregates authoritative external content (similar to the main GSoD, but with links). The U.S.  report, for example, has 510 citations. Particularly concerning events are flagged for greater visibility. The Global Monitor is much more up-to-date than the GSoD scores themselves (which end in 2020), because new content was added up through the middle of 2021. With its meticulous and thorough research, the Global Monitor will long be an essential resource for studying the effects of COVID-19 on the world’s democratic processes.

DEMOCRACY IN PERIL