📢 ECPS 5th Annual International Symposium — LIVE NOW! Join us now! 🛡️ Reforming & Safeguarding Liberal Democracy: Systemic Crises, Populism, and Democratic Resilience 🚨 The Opening Session has just started — don’t miss this critical moment. Join now while it’s live! 🔔 Opening Remarks (13:00–13:10) Irina von Wiese (@IrinavonWiese — ECPS Honorary President) 📌 Keynote Speech (13:10–14:00) 📊 “The Chicken-and-Egg Dilemma: Systemic Crises and the Rise of Populism” by Staffan I. Lindberg (V-Dem) 🚨 Drawing on the V-Dem Democracy Report 2026, Professor Lindberg delivers a stark diagnosis of global democratic decline: 📉 Democracy levels have fallen back to 1985 levels 🌍 44 countries are autocratizing, while only 18 are democratizing ⚠️ Even established democracies are facing erosion 🧠 A timely and urgent reflection on disinformation, polarization, far-right mobilization, and democratic backsliding—especially in the United States. ⏳ This is happening right now. Register immediately and join live — don’t miss this opportunity. 🔗 Register now: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi… 🔗 More details: populismstudies.org/the-5th-… #ECPS #Democracy #Populism #DemocraticResilience #Authoritarianism #PoliticalScience #AcademicConference #GlobalPolitics #VDem

📢 ECPS 5th Annual International Symposium / Register Now! 🛡️ Reforming & Safeguarding Liberal Democracy: Systemic Crises, Populism, and Democratic Resilience 📅 April 21–22, 2026 🌐 Online Event | 🕒 All Sessions in CEST (Brussels Time, UTC 2) 🔔 Opening Session & Keynote 🎤 Opening Remarks (13:00–13:10) Irina von Wiese (@IrinavonWiese -- ECPS Honorary President) 📌 Keynote Speech (13:10–14:00) 📊 “The Chicken-and-Egg Dilemma: Systemic Crises and the Rise of Populism” by Staffan I. Lindberg 🚨 Drawing on the V-DEM's latest Democracy Report 2026, Professor Lindberg delivers a stark diagnosis of global democratic decline: 📉 Democracy levels have fallen back to 1985 levels 🌍 44 countries are autocratizing, while only 18 are democratizing ⚠️ Even established democracies face erosion 🧠 The keynote explores how disinformation, polarization, and far-right mobilization are driving this trend—and reflects on the ongoing process of democratic backsliding in the United States. 🌍 A must-attend session for scholars, policymakers, and anyone concerned with the future of democracy in an era of systemic crisis. 🔗 Register now: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi… 🔗 More details: populismstudies.org/the-5th-… #ECPS #Democracy #Populism #DemocraticResilience #Authoritarianism #PoliticalScience #AcademicConference #GlobalPolitics #VDem

Swedish academics saying the US is autocratizing faster than Hungary is a striking finding worth taking seriously.

The unseating of an(other) elected official is important in the Turkish case. It also illustrates how autocratizing governments test out repression strategies against minorities before using them against others. My take with @haarunercan tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Americans have been underestimating the authoritarian slide for 10 years. Trump is almost done. Here we are now: p 21-US is 2nd on autocratizing countries list P 33-Most Dramatic Decline in American History described P 46-see US’ shameful rank on the list v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem…

I wept when reading the new Democracy Report from the V-Dem Institute. Not because it detailed the ‘autocratization of the USA’. That I had expected. The collapse of American democracy is something we can all see. But tears welled up when I read on page 4: “Among the new autocratizers are five European countries: Croatia, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the UK.” Seeing the UK listed as an autocratizing country was devastating. Perhaps naïvely, I am still holding out hope that UK citizens will wake up in time to stop the worst from happening. All they have to do is look at the devastation in the US – that should be enough to jolt the British into preventing further erosion of their democracy. But that is not how this invisible war we are all in works – the poison slips in country by country, through its unprotected internet borders, with fine-tuned and work-shopped messaging designed specifically for each nation, to turn citizens against their own freedoms. The V-Dem Institute, part of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, measures global democracy and in the time that I’ve been reading their reports, we have seen democratic nations trending in the wrong direction — from about half of the world a decade ago, now, 74% of the world population live in autocracies, with only 7% of the world population living in liberal democracies. Like the monarch butterfly and polar bears, liberal democracies are now an endangered species. According to the latest study: “The global democratic decline is notable and ongoing, whichever measure we use. For the average global citizen, the level of democracy is now back to 1978. It means that the enormous expansion of freedoms and rights achieved with the ‘third wave of democratization’ is almost entirely eradicated.” The fire that America played with in 2024, determining its democratic incumbent too old to lead and risking a fascist coup, has come back to burn the world. As the V-Dem report notes: “The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history” calling it “the most dramatic decline in American history.” Again, we can witness with our own eyes the tragedy unfolding in America, but to read that the UK is autocratizing, with such markers as freedom of academic and cultural expression and media self-censorship worsening, should be a rallying cry. 3/ bettedangerous.com/p/autocra…

Forty-four countries are currently autocratizing – moving in a consistent direction away from democratic norms. The proportion of humanity living under full liberal democratic systems has shrunk to roughly seven percent. Freedom of expression is the dimension under attack in the greatest number of countries worldwide. Australia is not leading this trend, but it is not insulated from it either. Debates over hate-speech legislation, proposed misinformation laws, and social-media regulation reveal an elite willingness to constrain speech in the name of protection – a tendency that, while differently motivated, can damage the same deliberative culture that liberal democracy requires. #auspol #ruleoflaw #GingerWhinger

Government censorship of the media is the "preferred weapon of choice" of autocrats around the world. Free speech rights are "often the first 'domino' to fall when countries autocratize." And V-Dem says America is "rapidly autocratizing." More here >>> cnn.com/2026/03/18/media/tru…

V-Dem researchers say the US is "rapidly autocratizing," citing the "suppression and intimidation of media and dissenting voices" as a key bit of evidence. Details in today's @ReliableSources: cnn.it/4rAgu1t

V-Dem report is out. US no longer classed among the "liberal democracies", and is among the fastest-autocratizing countries in the world. theguardian.com/world/commen…

The United States has lost its “status” as a liberal democracy, according to V-DEM, and is rapidly autocratizing.

USA under #Trump 2.0 emerging as the most rapidly #autocratizing country, finds the Varieties of Democracy Institute Democracy Report 2026, confirming the earlier assessment of @jburnmurdoch. Speed of #backsliding outpaces the most paradigmatic cases. Scholars of Hungary, India, Russia, Serbia, Türkiye, now is the time to analyze American politics: 👉 v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem…

The world has never before seen as many countries autocratizing at the same time as during the last few years of the “third wave of autocratization”.—V-Dem Democracy Report 2026 2/

Global Democracy Declines to Levels Not Seen Since the Late 1970s: Democracy for the average global citizen now stands at its lowest point since 1978, erasing nearly all gains from the "third wave of democratization." The level of democracy in Western Europe and North America hits a 50-year low, driven primarily by rapid autocratization in the United States. For the first time in over 50 years, the USA loses its status as a liberal democracy. Autocracies Now Dominate the World's Population and Political Landscape: The world contains 92 autocracies and 87 democracies, with 74% of the global population—six billion people—living under autocratic rule. Only 7% of the world's population resides in liberal democracies, a figure that dropped sharply after the USA's reclassification. More people now live in closed autocracies than in all democracies combined. The "Third Wave of Autocratization" Reaches Unprecedented Scale and Speed: The world experiences the largest simultaneous autocratization event in modern history, with 44 countries actively autocratizing and affecting 41% of the global population. Autocratization spreads across all regions, now touching seven European Union member states and key allies like the UK and the USA. The speed of decline in the USA under President Trump's second term outpaces even the most prominent autocrats of the last 25 years. Autocratizing Governments Systematically Dismantle Democratic Institutions: Media censorship remains the most common tactic, with 73% of autocratizing governments silencing independent media and restricting freedom of expression. Repression of civil society organizations surges, affecting 68% of autocratizing countries as governments criminalize dissent and control civic space. Undermining election integrity and weakening legislative and judicial checks on the executive occur in roughly half of all cases. Democratization Stagnates as Only a Handful of Countries Show Improvement: Only 18 countries are democratizing, marking 15 years of stagnation in democratic advancement. Of these, ten are U-turns—countries reversing recent autocratization—including Brazil, Poland, and Mauritius, though such recoveries often prove fragile. The combined population of all democratizing countries amounts to just 5% of the world's people. The United States Experiences the Most Dramatic Democratic Decline in Its History: The USA's democracy score plunges 24% in a single year, dropping the nation from 20th to 51st place globally and back to 1965 levels. Executive aggrandizement proceeds at an unprecedented pace, with legislative constraints on the president losing one-third of their value and falling to a 100-year low. Civil rights, equality before the law, and freedom of expression deteriorate to levels not seen since the 1960s, while electoral components remain stable only because they are assessed during the 2024 elections. v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem…

According to the V-Dem Institute’s 2026 Democracy Report, released in March, democratic backsliding now affects established democracies, with the United States experiencing an “unprecedented” decline in both speed and scale. The U.S. score on the Liberal Democracy Index dropped 24% in just one year, causing its global ranking to fall from 20th to 51st out of 179 countries. Lead author Staffan I. Lindberg attributes this to rapid power concentration in the presidency during Donald Trump’s second term, including attacks on checks and balances, the judiciary, media, academia, and civil liberties. While nearly a quarter of the world’s nations are autocratizing—including new cases in Europe and North America like Italy and the UK—Brazil ranks significantly higher at 28th and continues its democratization process. Full press release: v-dem.net/news/press-release…

Freedom House downgraded Georgia from "Partly Free" to "Not Free" (2024). Varieties of Democracy Institute: Georgia among world's top 10 autocratizing countries. Reporter Without Borders: Georgia press freedom ranking plummeted. Every major democracy index shows collapse.

In the realm of International relations, there will likely be a shift towards the rights of sovereign states over those of individuals over the next few decades. China has been advocating this for years. With the US autocratizing were moving in that direction as well.

The Trump regime is not “adopting.” It implemented Russian methods. Most frighteningly, it is using Putin’s methods for autocratizing a democracy. Trump adopted Putin’s methods in his 2015 campaign an never looked back. “False News” and “_______ Hoax” were the first big steps.

Culture and entertainment writer @jadabird on how today's cuts largely eliminated non-Trump arts coverage at The Washington Post. I study the politics of art and popular culture in autocratizing states, so this message really hits. Hoping someone is hiring in the arts!