The new year is ushering in an unprecedented test for democracies. Democracy around the globe is in peril. As history’s most effective and fair form of government, democracy is confronting a confluence of crises.
Freedom House succinctly sums up the global situation heading into 2022. “As a lethal pandemic, economic and physical insecurity, and violent conflict ravaged the world, democracy’s defenders sustained heavy new losses in their struggle against authoritarian foes, shifting the international balance in favor of tyranny,” it found.
The world is in the midst of the 15th consecutive year of democratic backsliding. Authoritarianism is on the march. In a brazen example in the heart of Europe, the democratically elected government of Ukraine is under threat by Russia, which has massed nearly 100,000 troops along their common border. From Hungary to Tanzania to Turkey and beyond, elected leaders are attacking civil society, media, and oversight institutions and spreading disinformation.
Some governments have used the pandemic to deploy emergency powers that restrict civil liberties. In addition, citizen trust in government across democracies has plummeted. The United States entered 2022 reliving the horror of the Jan. 6 assault on its democracy. In 2022, elections across several major democracies – Brazil, India, the Philippines among others – will serve as a litmus test on whether leaders with authoritarian tendencies prevail.
But there are signs of hope and promise. The end of 2021 saw major global forums – such as the U.S. Summit for Democracy and the Global Summit of the 78-country Open Government Partnership (OGP) – convening a countervailing force to renew democracy and push back against the rise of authoritarianism.
A new study published by the organization I lead (OGP) assessed democratic reforms implemented over the last decade in scores of countries around the world. It highlights hundreds of transformative efforts that are building citizen trust in democratic governance by making government more open and accountable. Specifically, courageous reformers and activists over the last decade are advancing four broad categories of reforms that can protect and renew democracy going forward.
The first category – opening opaque institutions to fight corruption. Today, 70 governments from Argentina to Ukraine are opening procurement contracts to end corrupt backroom deals. At a time when the Panama and Pandora Papers have unmasked illicit wealth stashed in anonymous corporations, 30 countries like Armenia, Nigeria, and the UK are opening up about who really owns the companies. In another example, Colombia is empowering citizen auditors to monitor COVID-19 stimulus spending on a mobile app to ensure it reaches intended beneficiaries.
The second category – empowering citizens to shape and oversee policies and services that impact their lives, particularly at the local level, such as participatory budgeting in Madrid, Spain, or citizens monitoring services in Kaduna, Nigeria. Reformers are convening people across political divides in Citizens’ Assemblies to forge shared solutions on contentious policies such as same-sex marriage in Ireland or climate justice in France.
The third category – empowering historically marginalized communities, such as enhancing access to justice for the Roma minority in North Macedonia, or empowering women by targeting the gender wage gap in Jalisco, Mexico.
The fourth category– confronting threats to democracy, such as the Netherlands and Canada strengthening the transparency of online political campaigns to curb disinformation.
The imperative now is to scale up these reforms to tackle societal crises and reignite confidence in democracy as the most viable and potent form of government for addressing the needs of people.
The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood noted the duality of democracy – its great power to transform whole nations for the better and yet its own vulnerability and need for constant nurturing.
“The fabric of democracy is always fragile everywhere because it depends on the will of citizens to protect it,” she wrote. “And when they become scared, when it becomes dangerous for them to defend it, it can go very quickly.”
The mission of all peoples during this period of unprecedented peril must be to join forces to demand and advance reforms that renew democracy – and protect this most cherished of gifts.
