Today the chief threat to democracy comes not from generals in the streets but from elected leaders dismantling it from within. The Journal of Democracy has joined with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to produce this special symposium on democratic resistance in backsliding democracies. The essays that follow do not only ask what is behind these attacks, but they offer concrete answers on what democracy’s defenders should do in response.
Democratic Resistance in Eroding Democracies
The EditorsHow to Build the Right Coalition
Opposition parties cannot defeat backsliding incumbents alone, but big united fronts often fail, too. The important choice lies between unity coalitions and quiet ones—and knowing which to choose can make all the difference.
Rachel KleinfeldHow to Protect the Media in Eroding Democracies
Independent journalism is under siege from lawsuits, shutdowns, and digital dominance. Good reporting is no longer enough: The media must win distribution, build solidarity networks, diversify funding, and connect the consequences of democratic erosion to daily life.
Maya TudorHow Courts Survive Democratic Backsliding
When elected leaders attack the courts, judges rarely prevail on their own. Across 25 cases of backsliding, judicial independence survived only where legislators, protesters, and international institutions stood ready to defend it.
Andrew O’DonohueHow to Break an Autocrat’s Coalition
Autocrats look invincible until their allies start to walk away. Defections have brought down regimes from Guatemala to Hungary, and they can be engineered: Raise the costs of standing with the autocrat and ease the path out.
Laura Gamboa
How Protest Can Halt Backsliding
Opposition movements have begun to question the power of taking to the street. But protest matters in backsliding democracies when it builds opposition strength—politicizing new voters, emboldening institutions, and fracturing the ruling coalition.
Saskia Brechenmacher
Image Credit: Miguel SCHINCARIOL / AFP via Getty Images