Democracy is in crisis. In 2017, political rights and civil liberties around the world deteriorated to their lowest point in more than a decade. The global landscape is characterized by emboldened autocrats, beleaguered democracies, and the withdrawal of the United States from its leadership role in the global struggle for human freedom. Democratic values—particularly the right to choose leaders in free and fair elections, freedom of the press, and the rule of law—are under assault and in retreat globally.
About the Authors
Michael J. Abramowitz
Michael J. Abramowitzis president of Freedom House. From 2014 to 2017, he was director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Levine Institute for Holocaust Education. He was formerly national editor and White House correspondent for the Washington Post.
Across East-Central Europe, the political center ground has long been characterized by the uneasy cohabitation of liberal and illiberal norms, but the latter have been gradually overpowering the former.
Rising populism in the U.S. and beyond is calling into question the liberal-democratic bargain that has defined the postwar era. What led to Americans’ present revolt against elites, and what are its…