Countering authoritarianism: A blueprint for a more resilient democracy

In presenting these recommendations, we draw on expert findings that the conditions for democratic deterioration are rooted in profound public distrustin government, exacerbated by protracted political crises including the 2008-2009 financial crisis, long-term wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the COVID-19 pandemic, the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms and numerous unjustified police killings. The increasing prominence of money in politics worsens the crisis-as does the increasing prominence of state and federal leaders being charged, both criminally and in the public square, with political corruption on a regular basis.

Bad actors have seized on this distrust. Candidates across the country have refused to commit to accepting legitimate electoral defeat,claiming-without evidence-that electoral results are inherently suspect and cannot be trusted. Unfortunately, in many states and in the halls of Congress, these conspiracy theories and election denialism have been invoked by officialstasked with overseeing and certifying local, state and federal elections. Others have baselessly arguedthat criminal prosecutions of elected officials are politically motivated, even when there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Meanwhile, extremist groups armed with weapons and distrustful of government have edged towards the political mainstream. These groups-many of whom organized the January 6th insurrection and include in their ranks former military members-have emerged as "the most persistent and lethal threat[]" to America. With their rise political violence has become more common, exemplified by plots to kidnapMichigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and assassinate former President Trump.

At the same time that public trust in government has declined, American states have taken strikingly divergent pathsin their commitment to democratic processes, exacerbating growing political polarizationin our country. Many states have made it harder for voters-and particularly voters of color-to register to vote and access the voting booth through tactics such as eliminating polling locations, exorbitant polling place wait times and implementing restrictive voter identification laws. This attack on democratic processes is occurring at the same time that faith in the courts-the branch charged with adjudicating the constitutionality of these measures-is close to an all-time lowthanks both to repeated ethical scandals and the overt politicization of judicial nominations.

This confluence of factors led several reputable indices, including The Economist's Democracy Index, to conclude that American democracy is in decline. Beginning in 2016 the Democracy Index started excluding the United States from its rankings of the world's "full democracies" (such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany), but instead including it on its list of "flawed democracies," putting it in the company of countries like Greece, Israel, Poland and Brazil.

But hope is not lost. Since 2020 there have been promising signs for American democracy. Not only did the 2022 electionsoccur without incident and with many election deniers losing their races, but federal, state, and locallaw enforcement have worked tirelessly to investigate and, where appropriate, charge those who participated in efforts to undermine the 2020 election and storm the Capitol on January 6th. These prosecutions are crucial, but alone they are woefully insufficient. We need transformative legislation.