Donald Trump's entry into the White House contributed to the spread of populism
Afrasianet - Democracy indicators in the United State shave fallen to their lowest levels in half a century after President Donald Trump came to power, an international institute for democracy said on Tuesday , warning of global repercussions.
The Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDA) said in a report that "key indicators of American democracy, from press freedom to judicial independence, are at their lowest levels in 50 years, leaving repercussions globally."
"Washington's retreat from the rules-based international order has weakened confidence in multilateralism and emboldened authoritarian and populist leaders," he said.
The report already documents the stagnation of democracy and a marked decline in indicators that measure the credibility of elections, the effectiveness of legislatures, respect for freedom of expression and the press, and access to justice.
The report noted that about 57% of countries surveyed recorded declines in at least one of the indicators of democracy between 2020 and 2025, including the independence of the judiciary, the integrity of elections, freedom of expression and justice.
"Of course, the current president of the United States can be considered the first case of this global pandemic," the institute's secretary-general, Kevin Casas-Zamora, told AFP.
Donald Trump's refusal to concede defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election had a global impact in legitimizing the credibility of election processes, while the US president's supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, accelerated this trend.
This has encouraged similar events, he said, citing the January 8, 2023, riots in Brasilia when supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed state institutions to protest leftist President Lula da Silva's victory.
Violent Conflicts
The report highlights the broader implications of the decline of democracy in the world, particularly with regard to violent conflicts.
After decades of relative peace, the world is once again witnessing an era in which the relationship between democracy and conflict is in the spotlight, noting that as violent conflicts become more intense than at any time in the past 80 years, trends point to contexts of undemocracy and democratic decline linked to the increasing intensity of conflicts.
In its report, the Center also notes that in light of the ongoing decline of democracy, the deterioration of the quality of democratic governance in many countries raises new concerns about the potential for conflict and the need to reverse prevailing negative trends.
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