Nicolai Haugsted
Key democratic indicators in the United States dropped to a 50-year low under Donald Trump.
Annual findings from the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) show democratic metrics in the United States hitting their lowest levels in five decades.
Covering 174 nations since 1975, the latest Global State of Democracy report highlights 2025 as the 11th consecutive year where democratic regressions outnumbered improvements—marking the longest unbroken downturn on record.
“In 2025, the global challenges to democracy and the difficulty in stemming its erosion were both exemplified and compounded by political developments in the United States,” the report’s authors said.
Executive power shifts in Washington played a prominent role in driving the downward trend across international indices.
“President Donald Trump quickly amassed power in the executive branch and wielded it to further a narrow set of personal goals and pursue retaliation against perceived enemies … The results have been far-reaching, undermining the rule of law domestically and internationally and testing longstanding alliances and multilateral cooperation,” the report’s authors noted.
Concerns over judicial independence, credible elections, press freedom, and access to justice have reached 30-year low points globally, with 71 countries—comprising 41% of evaluated nations—ranking poorly on rule-of-law metrics.
Links Between Fractured Governance and Armed Conflict
Eroding democratic institutions are directly coinciding with a sharp rise in military hostilities worldwide.
Research from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program at Uppsala University in Sweden confirms that 2025 recorded the highest number of active violent conflicts—including interstate clashes—since data tracking began back in 1946.
Kevin Casas-Zamora, secretary general of International IDEA, warned that national security strategists are ignoring the direct relationship between weak democratic institutions and global warfare.
“The key message from our research is that investing in democracy should be at the heart of any country’s security strategy,” he said, adding: “The connection between the erosion of the quality of democracy and increasing conflict is not being made either in policymaking or in the public debate.”
International IDEA first added the U.S. to its list of “backsliding” democracies back in 2021, citing institutional deterioration that started taking root in 2019.
Bright Spots amid Widespread Reform Struggles
Positive developments emerged in isolated pockets despite the broad international decline.
Australia earned praise for active civil society consultations regarding anti-racism initiatives and children’s online privacy, while Syria saw the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s repressive regime.
Youth-led uprisings in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka successfully ousted long-serving political leaders, though researchers noted that “it has proven difficult to create far-reaching, meaningful reform in a short period of time.”
