Democracy is in decline around the world — and Trump is part of the problem

For the 14th year in a row, a major annual report on the health of global democracy warned of its decline. In its survey evaluating 195 countries and 15 territories, Freedom House, a nongovernmental, nonpartisan advocacy organization established in 1941, found that political freedoms and civil liberties across the world are backsliding more often than they are improving.

“Democracy and pluralism are under assault,” read the opening sentence of its report, written by Sarah Repucci. “Dictators are toiling to stamp out the last vestiges of domestic dissent and spread their harmful influence to new corners of the world.”

The usual suspects remain among the worst offenders. Freedom House decried China for its “totalitarian offensive” in Xinjiang and other campaigns of repression, and it warned of Beijing’s “relentless campaign to replace existing international norms with its own authoritarian vision.” It pointed to Russia’s “stage-managed elections” in 2019, in which the genuine opposition was largely shut out. Iran’s leadership, even as it sowed “discord” in neighboring countries, deployed security forces that used live ammunition to crush demonstrations last fall, killing hundreds of people.