This article is part of a special report stemming from the Athens Democracy Forum, held in collaboration with The New York Times.
Across the Western world, the foundational pillars of democracy appear to be shaking.
A growing chorus of discontent echoes through societies, fueled by doubts about democracy’s ability to respond effectively to everyday citizens’ needs. This sentiment has paved the way for a surge in support for autocratic policies and far-right politicians. In our deeply polarized era, democratic processes can feel sluggish and ineffective. Yet, these new leaders, often by sidestepping established norms and even legal boundaries, are perceived by their supporters as decisive actors who ‘get things done’ – regardless of whether the outcomes are truly beneficial or detrimental.
Strikingly, for the first time, populist and far-right parties are currently topping opinion polls in key European nations like France, Britain, and Germany. They also hold significant power, either independently or in coalition governments, in countries such as Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and arguably, even the United States.
According to Ivan Krastev, a prominent Bulgarian political scientist, the current strain on liberal democracy stems from a truly revolutionary period. He argues that while liberalism historically prepares societies for reform and later rectifies excesses, it tends to become “quiescent, almost irrelevant” during times of profound, revolutionary upheaval.
When citizens face uncertainty, unhappiness, or a sense that “things are not working,” Krastev observes a readiness to accept strong leaders. These leaders, he notes, often demonstrate a capacity to enact changes previously thought impossible, even if those actions are ultimately misguided.
Krastev himself is a featured speaker at this year’s Athens Democracy Forum, organized in partnership with The New York Times.
The forum, which extends through Friday, brings together a diverse array of speakers, panelists, workshops, and tutorials. Discussions delve into critical threats to democracy, ranging from advanced artificial intelligence and internal subversion to societal complacency and persistent inequality.
While the trend is concerning, it’s far from hopeless, insists Ivan Vejvoda, a Serbian political scientist and global fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing democracy worldwide.
“There is no single solution to counter illiberalism and extremism,” states Vejvoda, who is set to moderate a panel of young Kettering fellows exploring strategies to combat authoritarianism.
He emphasized that addressing these dynamics demands “courage, determination, and perseverance,” grounded in a clear understanding of the threats to fundamental freedoms like assembly and free speech. “Resisting illiberal tendencies,” he added, “requires concerted effort and mobilization across all levels of society.”
Loss of faith in the effectiveness of Western democracies often stems from a perception that they have simply failed to deliver, said Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and a professor at Columbia University. “For many outside the ivory towers of academia and media,” he explained, “the fundamental question is, ‘What has democracy actually done for us, our children, and our nation?’ When people’s daily lives are hard, they naturally seek answers.”
The Chilling Reality of ‘Horizontal Inequities’
At the Ambrosetti Forum, an economic conference in Italy, Stiglitz highlighted the significant role of inequality. He noted that for Americans, unlike Europeans, the primary concern isn’t necessarily a rich-versus-poor divide, as many admire wealth. Instead, the core problem lies in what he terms “horizontal inequities” – situations where ordinary individuals observe their peers thriving due to systemic advantages they themselves lack.
“People perceive themselves as slipping down the economic ladder, leading them to feel that democracy has utterly failed them.”
Rachel Rizzo, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, argues that the vast accumulation of capital and resources over the past three decades has dramatically exacerbated the divide between those with access to financial tools—like loans, mortgages, investments, and property—and those without.
Compounding this are complex issues like migration, identity politics, deindustrialization, and intense social polarization. These factors, Rizzo explains, contribute to a pervasive feeling that government institutions are simply not serving the populace. The advent of new technologies, artificial intelligence, and social media further amplifies these disparities, making them “played out in front of them… it’s in front of their faces.”
This potent cocktail fuels anger, widespread disillusionment, and anti-immigrant sentiment. Political extremist parties capitalize on these emotions, asserting, as Rizzo notes, that “the government is not delivering for you, while it is delivering for those people, who are strangers.”
The Erosion of a ‘Common Conversation’
Democracy is designed to harmonize diverse societal interests through a system of checks, balances, and vigorous political debate, explains Julien Vaulpré, head of the French political consulting firm Taddeo. However, he observes that political parties are increasingly fragmented, and voters are becoming isolated in their own “bubbles.” “Social media,” Vaulpré states, “creates an individual vote in a bubble, but it has destroyed the common conversation.”
This profound polarization, where adversaries struggle to acknowledge good intentions in each other’s perspectives, is starkly illustrated in the United States by incidents such as the murder of young conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus.
Compounding Crises: Low Growth and Geopolitical Conflict
For the European Union, economic anxieties are severely intensified by the ongoing war on its own continent. Growth continues to significantly trail that of the United States, all while Europe contends with potential higher tariffs from former President Trump, a deceleration in China’s economy, an increasingly militarized Russia, and the protracted Ukraine war, which shows no immediate signs of resolution.
With former President Trump insisting they assume greater responsibility for Ukraine’s security and their own defense, Europeans recognize the imperative to boost military spending for their collective safety. This comes despite challenges of sluggish economic growth and already strained national budgets.
The Western world is still grappling with the fallout from the 2005 economic crisis and the more recent Covid-19 pandemic, both of which severely eroded public trust in democratic institutions. During the pandemic, governments implemented emergency decrees, curtailing fundamental freedoms like movement, assembly, and expression. These measures frequently sidestepped ordinary legislative and judicial review and often persisted beyond the pandemic’s peak.
The pandemic response itself fueled further political polarization over issues such as mask mandates, curfews, and isolation protocols. Furthermore, managing the economic impact of shutdowns led to a substantial increase in government debt, consequently contributing to higher inflation and escalating budgetary disputes.
The Steep Slide: Polarization and Democratic Backsliding
Political freedom, a trend already in decline, plunged to a 25-year low in the wake of the pandemic, a finding highlighted by Joseph Lemoine and his team at the Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Center.
Their report reveals a sobering statistic: since 2019, and significantly exacerbated by Covid-19, the global annual rate of democratic backsliding has quadrupled.
A staggering 112 nations have experienced a reduction in political freedom, with over a third of these showing no such decline prior to the pandemic. This concerning list includes countries often considered stable democracies, such as the United States, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and 20 of the 27 European Union member states.
These alarming findings are further corroborated by the annual report on the global state of democracy from International IDEA, an intergovernmental organization dedicated to bolstering democratic systems worldwide.
France serves as a potent and alarming illustration of these systemic strains. Already deeply polarized with formidable far-left and far-right parties, its governments have repeatedly collapsed due to their inability to secure political and public consensus for tackling immense national debt. With President Emmanuel Macron’s popularity at a low ebb, Marine Le Pen’s far-right party appears increasingly likely to secure the powerful presidency within 18 months. Similarly, in the United States, profound political polarization manifests not only in cultural clashes over issues like free speech and gender identity but also in diametrically opposed approaches to managing the escalating federal debt.
The Looming Threat: Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories
The global panic surrounding Covid-19 and the diverse responses from democratic governments created fertile ground for disinformation and conspiracy theories, observes Brando Benifei, a 39-year-old Italian Member of the European Parliament and chairman of the delegation for relations with the United States.
Benifei also highlights the growing capacity of artificial intelligence to construct deceptive realities and powerful propaganda. He is actively engaged in parliamentary efforts to legislate the regulation of both AI and social media.
“We are striving for a fundamental principle: that AI-generated content must be clearly identifiable,” he states. “However, achieving this is challenging and, on its own, insufficient.” Benifei is also scheduled to speak at the Athens Democracy Forum.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, he adds, “reinforces the perception of a dissolving and unstable world order, fueling public anxiety about the future. This, in turn, contributes to the erosion of trust in existing institutions across both Europe and America.”
Krastev posits that in an era of widespread anxiety and confusion, deeply held social values in democratic nations – such as national identity, family, and the implicit intergenerational contract – begin to fracture. Furthermore, AI technology itself “raises the fundamental question of what it truly means to be human.”
The Resurgence of Endemic Nationalism
Mario Monti, former Italian prime minister and economist, is the author of “Demagonia,” a book exploring the anguish of democracy and the detrimental impact of “the politics of illusion” on its credibility. During an interview at Ambrosetti, Monti highlighted a core conflict: the West’s complex problems demand long-term, international solutions, yet politicians face escalating pressure in the social media age to deliver immediate responses.
Monti observed that the “actual behavior of politicians increasingly runs contrary to finding shared solutions. Their actions are increasingly short-sighted and nationalistic.” This drive for immediate action, he warns, risks dismantling crucial institutions – such as independent central banks and competition regulatory authorities – that serve as vital checks on executive and corporate power, a trend already visible in the United States.
While parallels exist, Danilo Türk, former president of Slovenia and current president of the Club de Madrid (a nonpartisan global group dedicated to promoting democracy), points out inherent differences between Europe and the United States.
Türk notes that in the U.S., “special interests exert a disproportionately strong influence,” having largely dominated politics over the last two decades. In contrast, he suggests that European special interests are less pervasive and more effectively regulated.
Nevertheless, Europe grapples with its own significant challenges, including “endemic nationalism that can become pathological” – a force readily mobilized by genuine concerns like migration and economic stagnation.
Türk, also slated to speak in Athens, describes a “tired-looking Europe.” He warns that the welfare state, now unsustainable without unpopular reforms, “provides further fertile ground for nationalism to thrive.”
He characterizes the European Union as excessively bureaucratic, plagued by internal disagreements, and prone to temporary fixes, lacking robust strategies for critical issues such as Palestine, Ukraine, or the broader democratic decline.
“The outcome is stagnation,” Türk concludes, “and this is a particularly unfavorable time for it.”
Vejvoda proposes education as a crucial tool to combat this anti-democratic trend.
He advocates for “reaching out to people, engaging them directly, demystifying simplistic solutions, offering alternative policies, and frankly acknowledging the challenges ahead.” These, he argues, are essential steps to “confront attempts to diminish pluralism, undermine the rule of law, and restrict free public discourse.”