Backsliding or Bias? Understanding Global Democratic Decline and Resilience

Moynihan Institute’s program for the Study of Global Politics welcomes Amanda B. Edgell from the University of Alabama. 

Over the past decade, declines in global indices of democracy have raised concerns that the world may be experiencing a wave of autocratization. Prominent cases of severe democratic backsliding— such as Hungary, India, Turkey and Venezuela—have also prompted scholars, donors and practitioners to focus more on identifying factors that can help promote democratic resilience. Meanwhile, some scholars question whether declines in democracy truly reflect a global recession or are manifested by measurement practices based on subjective expert assessments.

This talk will discuss the current controversies surrounding the measurement and operationalization of democratic backsliding, with specific reference to the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. The talk will also present findings from a close examination of nine cases where democracy faced severe threats from incumbent-led autocratization. Amanda B. Edgell is an assistant professor at the University of Alabama, where she runs the Comparative Political Regimes Lab, and a research associate for the V-Dem Institute.

Edgell co-edited the book “Why Democracies Develop and Decline” (CUP, 2022) and has a forthcoming Cambridge Element entitled “Democracy in Trouble: Democratic Resilience and Breakdown from 1900 to 2022.”