All these symptoms of decline are present in the United States. There tends to be a decline in non-governmental institutions critical to a healthy public sphere, such as an independent media, a vibrant education system, and an engaged civil society. It is associated with certain changes in public attitudes, including vilification of members of the opposing party and widespread misinformation. Whatever the terminology, democratic decline has ramifications throughout society. Political scientists use a variety of terms to describe this phenomenon, including “democratic erosion,” “democratic backsliding,” “democratic regression,” and “autocratization.” Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts.” 3 Elected autocrats maintain a veneer of democracy while eviscerating its substance. ![]() “The electoral road to breakdown is dangerously deceptive… People still vote. 2 In the words of political scientists Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky: There can be intermediate moments of apparent stability or equilibrium. The process is often incremental and episodic. 1 Instead, democracies in decline usually experience a slow but steady erosion. Globally, it is increasingly rare for an authoritarian to come to power via a coup. Against these pressures, the gridlocked and hyperpartisan Congress is poorly equipped to provide unbiased oversight and accountability of the executive, and there are serious questions about the impartiality of the judiciary. The United States has also seen substantial expansions of executive power and serious efforts to erode the independence of the civil service. Since 2010, state legislatures have instituted laws intended to reduce voters’ access to the ballot, politicize election administration, and foreclose electoral competition via extreme gerrymandering. But democratic erosion in the United States is not synonymous with Donald Trump. ![]() Most obviously, after the 2020 election, the sitting president, despite admitting privately that he had lost, attempted to subvert the results and remain in office. democracy has declined in recent years-but what does that mean? The United States is experiencing two major forms of democratic erosion in its governing institutions: election manipulation and executive overreach.
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