Is democracy in decline? This question is on the minds of people around the world in these uncertain times. We have witnessed both triumphs of democracy, including Pakistan’s first-ever orderly transition of power through elections, and challenges to democratic progress such as increasingly authoritarian Russia or (with the exception of Tunisia) the implosion of the Arab Spring. That crucial question became the theme of the Journal of Democracy’s latest issue and framed the discussion at an event organized yesterday by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Johns Hopkins University Press to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Journal.
The choice of the democracy-in-decline theme may at first seem odd for the anniversary issue and its commemorative event. Marc Plattner, the founding coeditor of the Journal of Democracy and vice-president for research and studies at the NED, explains:
“Here in our twenty-firth anniversary issue, we feel compelled to confront head-on the questions of whether democracy is in decline. Why? There are two aspects to the answer, which although intertwined are in some measure separable. The first deals with what is actually taking place on the ground: How many countries are democratic? Is their number rising or shrinking? What is the situation with respect to such liberal-democratic features as freedom of the press, rule of law, free and fair elections, and the like? The second, more subjective, aspect concerns the standing of democracy in the world: How is it viewed in terms of legitimacy and attractiveness?”
The panel, moderated by Plattner, featured distinguished democracy experts whose essays were also published in the Journal‘s current issue: Larry Diamond, the Journal’s other founding coeditor and a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Steven Levitsky, Harvard College professor and professor of government at Harvard University; Lucan Way, associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto; Thomas Carothers, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Alina Mungiu-Pippidi who teaches democratization and policy analysis at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
They debated different positions on the question of democracy in decline, leaving both the audience at the anniversary event and the broader audience of the Journal’s readers with key facts and trends to ponder. There are good reasons for both pessimism and optimism about the future of democracy. But there is one undeniably bright spot. For 25 years now the Journal of Democracy has provided unique thought leadership and in-depth analysis of democratic development around the globe, and we can rest assured that it will continue to be an important platform and a crucial resource for supporters of freedom everywhere.
Anna Nadgrodkiewicz is Director for Multiregional Programs at CIPE.
Published Date: January 30, 2015