The third wave of autocratisation

The Democracy Report of 2026 reveals an alarming world-wide trend: a dominating 'third wave of autocratisation.' "It's truly global and simultaneous. Many more countries are autocratising at the same time and across regions of the world," states Carolina Plescia at the Department of Government at the University of Vienna. "Liberal democracy is back to 1978 levels. Structural decline is real, documented, and accelerating."

The situation in the United States of America is especially worrisome. According to the report, US democracy backslid further in one year than other countries managed in a decade. In this explainer video, we asked Carolina Plescia, expert in digital democracy, to answer a few key questions about the Report and what it says about the US. At the end, we take a look at key insights coming from her own research on what 'voting' means for citizens and how elections can be reformed to better support democracy.

How did the US autocratise so rapidly?

"Leaders can restrict media and civil society while keeping formal institutions in place," Plescia explains. "Elections are formally in place, but institutions are weakened from the inside rather than from the outside." 

And now, the checks and balances are also no longer in place. Since the beginning of Donald Trump's second term as president, legislative oversight over his executive power has dropped sharply. A weakened congress, says Plescia, has far less power vis-à-vis the president. "Fewer efforts are made to initiate investigations against the president's unconstitutional and illegal actions," she adds.

What does it take for autocratising countries to return to democracy?

"Successful turnarounds often include civil society taking the lead in non-violent protests," she states. By re-establishing media freedom and public debate, trust can be rebuilt in these institutions, which are at the basis of re-democratisation. 

According to Plescia, three ingredients are key: strong democratic institutions such as election integrity, societal action such as non-violent protests, and most importantly, early action. 

"Acting early is very, very important because once institutions have been damaged, it becomes much harder to reverse the process of autocratisation," she stresses.

How can we regain trust in democracy?

Low voter turnout is a major problem around the world. Carolina Plescia is currently leading a project that investigates what 'voting' means for citizens in different countries, across different regimes. 'Voting' does not mean the same thing to all people, and according to Plescia's team, these differences matter when countries try to design electoral reforms to improve citizen participation. Feeling that one's vote is meaningful in the voting process, for instance, is associated with stronger support for democracy.

Scholars have warned that young people are becoming increasingly open to authoritarian alternatives to democracy. However, while citizens can grow wary of the legitimacy of their own government, Plescia's analyses show that this does not necessarily mean that they are sceptical of the form or regime of their government. "Citizens are still very supportive of democracy in the abstract," states Plescia, "though in the long run, disenchantment and dissatisfaction can feed into each other."  Inclusive electoral processes that make citizens feel that their vote matters can be a key step to take to improve democratic health.

All figures were recoloured from the V-DEM Institute Democracy Report 2026. Full citation: Nord, Marina, David Altman, Tiago Fernandes, Ana Good God, and Staffan I. Lindberg. 2026. Democracy Report 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era? University of Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute.