Global Democratic Backsliding
The worldwide reversal from democratic toward authoritarian governance since the early 21st century, tracked by research institutes as the "third wave of autocratization." Unlike the coup-driven reversals of the Cold War, modern backsliding typically unfolds through elected leaders weakening courts, media, and electoral oversight — and the trend itself is contested, with accused governments rejecting the framing as partisan.
Events
The Third Wave of Democratization
Portugal's Carnation Revolution began what political scientists call the third wave of democratization, which spread electoral democracy across Southern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa over the following two decades. Many of the new democracies were weakly institutionalized, leaving them vulnerable to later reversal. By the 1990s, the number of democracies worldwide had reached a historic high.
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
The Coup Era Gives Way to Executive Aggrandizement
During the Cold War, democratic breakdowns most often occurred through military coups. After the Cold War, political scientists including Nancy Bermeo documented a shift toward what she termed "executive aggrandizement": elected leaders gradually weakening checks on their power through legal means. This made modern backsliding harder to detect, as elections continued while institutions were hollowed out.
Location: Global
Venezuela's Court Packing
Venezuela's ruling party under Hugo Chávez expanded and packed the Supreme Court in 2004, aligning the judiciary with the executive. Scholars Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt later cited Venezuela as the canonical case of how elected incumbents disable institutional referees. The episode became a reference point in the comparative study of democratic erosion.
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
The Third Wave of Autocratization Begins
After the Great Recession, the number of countries moving toward authoritarianism began exceeding those democratizing, a reversal the V-Dem Institute in Gothenburg labeled the third wave of autocratization. The trend affected not only newer democracies but also long-established ones. Economic inequality was strongly associated with the shift, alongside cultural backlash and populist politics.
Location: Global
Hungary Rewrites Its Constitution
Hungary's Fidesz government under Viktor Orbán, elected in 2010 with a two-thirds parliamentary majority, adopted a new constitution and a series of laws that reshaped the judiciary, media regulation, and the electoral framework. Orbán defended the changes as restoring national sovereignty and majority rule against liberal elites. International observers and the Venice Commission criticized the weakening of institutional checks, making Hungary a central case study in backsliding within the European Union.
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Turkey's Shift to Executive Presidency
Following the failed 2016 coup attempt and sweeping purges of the civil service, Turkey held a referendum that replaced its parliamentary system with an executive presidency under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Supporters argued the change brought decisive governance; critics cited the concentration of power and the detention of journalists and academics. The referendum marked a structural transformation of a NATO member state's democracy.
Location: Turkey
The EU Triggers Article 7 Against Hungary
The European Parliament voted by two-thirds majority to trigger the Article 7 procedure of the EU treaty against Hungary, declaring a clear risk of a serious breach of the bloc's founding values — the first time the procedure had been initiated against a member state by the Parliament itself. Orbán and his government rejected the report as politically motivated interference. The procedure stalled, requiring unanimity among member states.
Location: Strasbourg, France
January 6 and Backsliding in Established Democracies
A mob stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to block certification of the 2020 presidential election, after weeks of false claims that the election was stolen. The event — followed by a second contested transition period after the 2024 election — became a reference point for analysts who warned that democratic erosion was no longer confined to newer democracies. Supporters of the claims maintained that the election had systemic irregularities, assertions rejected by courts and state election officials.
Location: Washington, D.C., United States
The Myanmar Coup
Myanmar's military detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders and seized power, overturning the results of the November 2020 election the military claimed was fraudulent. The coup, carried out with force rather than legal manipulation, demonstrated that outright military reversals had not disappeared. A brutal crackdown on protests followed, killing hundreds.
Location: Naypyidaw, Myanmar
Autocracies Outnumber Democracies
The V-Dem Institute's Democracy Report 2026 found that autocracies again outnumbered democracies for the first time in twenty years, with nearly a quarter of the world's countries undergoing autocratization in 2025 — including several in Europe and North America. The report concluded that the democratic gains made since 1978 had been eradicated, while also documenting counter-movements and U-turn cases where autocratization reversed. V-Dem's methodology and category definitions have their critics, who argue that such measures embed contested judgments about what democracy requires.
Location: Global