Four countries that have successfully reversed democratic decline in recent years

Several countries have recently managed to stop and even reverse the erosion of their democratic institutions.

The chart illustrates these turnarounds using the liberal democracy index from the Varieties of Democracy project. This index measures key aspects of democracy, such as the fairness of elections and checks on government power. It ranges from 0 (highly autocratic) to 1 (highly democratic).

The four countries in the chart all saw serious declines in democracy over the past 20 years—these declines are shown in red. In Thailand, democracy eroded quickly, while in Zambia, it happened more slowly.

Still, in each case, people resisted growing authoritarianism. As a result, these countries were able to partially or fully restore previous levels of liberal democracy.

These examples show that when democracy deteriorates, its fate is not sealed, and democratic institutions can be reclaimed.

Read more about how democratic decline has been reversed before in my article →

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Our World in Data. “Four countries that have successfully reversed democratic decline in recent years” by Bastian Herre, published by Our World in Data under CC BY 4.0. Changed here: set as a page, its interactive charts shown as pictures. Data from third parties keeps its own licence.

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