The United States is no longer just stumbling through a domestic political rough patch. It is acting as an active accelerator for democratic erosion worldwide.
According to the latest Global State of Democracy report from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), nearly half of all key US democracy indicators have plunged to their lowest points in fifty years. When the world's most prominent constitutional republic starts dismantling its own internal guardrails, autocrats elsewhere take notes. They also take license. For another look, read: this related article.
If you think American political dysfunction stays inside American borders, you're not paying attention. Washington's retreat from multilateral norms and independent checks and balances is giving a green light to authoritarian leaders across the globe.
The Mechanics of Backsliding
The numbers coming out of Stockholm are stark. International IDEA points out that 2025 marked the eleventh consecutive year where more countries declined in democratic performance than advanced. That represents the longest continuous downturn since the organization began tracking data. Similar coverage regarding this has been provided by Associated Press.
At the center of this downward spiral sits the United States. Nearly half of the metric points measuring American democracy have hit half-century lows. Judicial independence is fracturing. Public trust in elections is intentionally eroded from the top down. Executive power has expanded at the expense of legislative oversight.
When a superpower shifts toward election denialism and attacks on institutional credibility, that behavior spreads like an epidemic. We saw the preview in Brazil following the 2022 election, where attempts to contest legitimate outcomes mirrored the chaos of the 2020 US presidential transition.
The Shrinking Boundaries of Free Expression
It's not just about voting booths or courtrooms. Freedom of expression and press freedom are taking massive hits globally, and the US is leading by example through executive pressure.
Consider what's happening at home:
- Federal funding reductions and political interference targeting public media entities like NPR and PBS.
- Direct ad hominem attacks on journalists, with a heavy slant toward targeting women in the media.
- Legal intimidation tactics directed at major news institutions including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC.
- Executive maneuvers targeting academic freedom, such as leveraging federal funding to pressure universities on hiring and accreditation policies.
When the US government treats independent media and higher education as partisan enemies rather than public goods, repressive regimes abroad use those exact justifications to lock down their own civil societies.
Connecting Democracy to Global Conflict
Most foreign policy debates treat domestic governance and international security as two separate categories. That's a dangerous mistake.
The data compiled by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program shows that 2025 recorded the highest number of violent conflicts—including interstate wars—since their tracking began in 1946. There is a direct line between weakening democratic structures and rising global instability.
When international law is treated as optional by major powers, the normative guardrails keeping major conflicts in check start to snap. Kevin Casas-Zamora, International IDEA's secretary general, notes that investing in democracy needs to be treated as a core national security strategy. Military deterrence gets all the airtime on cable news, but robust domestic institutions and transparent rule of law are what actually stop states from sliding into chaos.
Where Resilience Still Exists
It isn't a completely hopeless picture, though the bright spots require hard-fought public mobilization. While established democracies like the US stumble, citizens in other regions are pushing back against autocracy.
Youth-led movements in places like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka have unseated long-serving leaders through sheer force of public will. Poland and Syria have also experienced political transitions that opened small windows for democratic renewal.
However, these victories remain fragile. Authoritarian populism doesn't go away quietly. Governments around the world are increasingly using strategic lawsuits against public participation, strict foreign agent laws, and the outright criminalization of peaceful protest to snuff out civic space.
What Comes Next
We are living through what researchers call the Great Fragmentation. Countries are pulling inward, hoarding resources, breaking trade commitments, and abandoning multilateral pacts.
If you want to understand where the global rule of law is heading, look at Washington. Until the US stops weaponizing institutional distrust and rebuilds its own domestic checks and balances, the international system will keep fracturing. Democratic health isn't a domestic luxury item. It's the structural foundation of global peace, and right now, the foundation is cracking.
