Democratic Decay Research Articles

When is gender on party agendas? Manifestos and (De-)democratisation in Greece, Portugal, and Spain

ABSTRACT When do political parties give attention to gender-related political interests, and what determines their positions? We argue that progress in gender equality commitments is an essential component of democratisation, and backsliding in these indicates democratic decay. Using original data coded from party manifestos in Greece, Portugal, and Spain over recent decades, we investigate the role of party ideology and critical junctures in the political context. We find that left-wing parties give more attention to gender-related interests than other parties. Far-right parties also give significant attention to some interests and stand out for traditional positions. Further, the economic recession significantly decreased attention to gender-related interests. Our results suggest that economic crises and associated far-right party strength fuel gender backsliding and de-democratisation.

Countering Democratic Decay Judicially: Is Resistance Futile?

Abstract With democratic decay advancing around the globe, scholars deeply disagree about courts’ ability to protect democracy. I argue that this divergence is influenced by conceptual and theoretical deficiencies of the debate. The existing approaches to judicial responses to democratic decay often do not pay sufficient attention to the differences among courts and the environments in which they operate. To tackle these issues, this article introduces the judicial countering capacity frame as an analytical tool to guide further empirical analysis. The framework recognizes courts’ agency but emphasizes the constraints and resources stemming from the environment in which a court operates. Moving away from single-factor explanations, I make a case for a multicausal understanding of judicial countering of democratic decay. I argue that the extent of a court’s countering capacity rests on three pillars: institutional design, the level of political pluralism, and political culture towards courts. The judicial countering capacity frame invites an empirically oriented agenda focusing on micro-mechanisms of judicial countering, their effectiveness, structural preconditions, and the plausibility of available judicial strategies. The article demonstrates the new frame on case studies of Colombia, South Africa and Poland.

Role of Social Media Manipulation in Promoting Democratic Decay: The Case of Poland

Role of Social Media Manipulation in Promoting Democratic Decay: The Case of Poland

A Contrastive Analysis of Word Formation Processes in Interrogating Widespread Democratic Decay and Breakdown in some West African Countries

In contemporary times democracy is threatened across West African states like never before. Democracy is under increasing assault from the elected leaders and their cronies. A noticeable, subtle, stifling strangulation of democratic structures and substance leads to the erosion of democracy in more than a few West African countries and a total breakdown of democracy through coups in others. Despite the attempts by the ECOWAS and AU to discourage democratic breakdown in Africa, military intervention continues to truncate democracies in many African countries. This paper interrogated the root-causes of the prevalence of democratic breakdown in West African countries and the factors sustaining military interventions in the region. Building upon earlier scholarly work on democratic breakdown and deploying the doctrinal research methodology, the researcher analysed the resurgence of and effects of military intervention and truncation of democratic practices in West Africa. The findings of this research showed that military intervention is edging West African countries to the precipice and there have been more than a few complete democratic breakdowns in West African countries in recent times. In conclusion, the researcher offers suggestions on how democratic breakdown can be arrested in the West African region and/or reduce its occurrence by advocacy, enthronement of good governance, citizenship participation, application of the rule of law, and upholding of constitutional provisions.

Constitutional Referrals by Ordinary Courts: A Platform for Judicial Dialogue and Another Toolkit for Judicial Resistance?

Constitutional referrals by ordinary courts – Judicial dialogue between constitutional courts and ordinary courts – Toolkit for judicial resistance – Novel taxonomy of features and functions of constitutional referrals – Separation of powers approach – Democratic decay – Self-defence mechanism – Mix of methodological approaches – Case study on Czechia

A testimony of the threat to Indian democracy: A review of Alpa Shah’s book “The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the search for democracy in India”

In the annals of democratic governance, India’s narrative unfolds a paradoxical tale of promise and peril, where ideals of equality and freedom often intersect with realities of power and oppression. India’s democracy seems to be something of an enigma in which lofty principles and ideals are, more often than not, eclipsed by the use of force and repression. Notwithstanding the claims to inclusivity and representation, Indian democracy, more often than not, undermines the very structures and mechanisms needed to protect it. This article is an attempt to delve into the concerns of potential democratic decay that has dawned upon the Indian political system, particularly, in the wake of the ascendancy of Hindu majoritarianism. And it seeks to do so through a critical review of Alpa Shah’s book The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India which, based on profound research work, presents a gripping narrative of the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018 to bring to light the ways in which the modern Indian state systematically erodes democratic values and comes down heavily upon those seeking to raise their voices against the perceived injustices perpetrated by it.

The Democratic Self-Defence of Constitutional Courts

Abstract Courts around the world are under attack. They are being captured, packed, threatened, and their authority and powers are being limited by governments that seek to undermine the democratic constitutional order. Once courts are weakened or captured, it is easier for these governments to undermine other democratic institutions and even set courts themselves against democracy. Accordingly, using the rationale of ‘militant democracy’, this article proposes the theory of democratic self-defence of constitutional courts. According to this theory, constitutional courts (including apex courts with constitutional review powers) should declare the unconstitutionality of reforms to their institutional design when these are instrumental to a process of democratic decay. Not only that they should do so, but they must do so – as a duty – when the viability of the democratic system of government is at stake. The aim of this self-defence is not the self-interest preservation of institutional powers but the protection of democracy itself. In order to be able to protect democracy, courts must be able to protect themselves.

Informality and Courts: Uneasy Partnership

AbstractThis introductory Article provides a conceptual umbrella for the Special Issue on Informal Institutions and Democratic Decay. It offers conceptual clarity to studying informal institutions and explains their relationship to other concepts such as constitutional conventions or judicial culture. The article summarizes findings of the Special issue in four key observations. First, it shows that it is impossible to understand the functioning of courts without understanding the informal rules that shape courts’ governance and decision-making. These informal rules (institutions) appear within courts (internal), between courts and other actors (mixed) and among non-judicial actors with effects on courts (external judicial institutions). Second, it identifies a strong trend of formalization of rules, sponsored mostly on the supranational European level .Third, it explains why reforms of formal rules are often not sufficient to trigger behavioral changes and highlights the role of informal institutions in created commitment of actors to key democratic principles. Fourth, it argues that informal judicial institutions significantly impact the quality of democracy.

The Invisible Safeguards of Judicial Independence in the Israeli Judiciary

AbstractThe Israeli democracy regulates the operation of the judiciary through the constraints of formal rules that check the political actors, the individual judges, and the judiciary. Basic laws, laws and regulations prescribe the operation of every subject. Yet beyond these formal rules, informal institutions and practices are sometimes equally important in the operation of the judiciary, as they are in any constitutional system. In Israel, some of these informal institutions are crucial for the flourishing of democracy and the rule of law, through their protection of judicial independence from external political interference. The imminent possibility that political actors may set some of them aside is nothing less than a potential transformation in the constitutional order. Over the past few decades, judges and court administrators have introduced other internal informal institutions in the administration of the Israeli Judiciary, which qualify formal judicial accountability mechanisms in ways that may prove to be detrimental to democratic principles. This article discusses informal institutions that are important in the operation of the Israeli judiciary, separating the former external kind that are conducive to the rule of law—such as the illegitimacy of political and partisan considerations in judicial appointments—and whose disregard may signal democratic decay from the latter internal kind that may prove detrimental to the courts—such as opaquely changing who is responsible for court administration. Lastly, the political attempt to change informal institutions, detailed herein, can be seen as a harbinger of the current attempt to change formal institutions in the constitutional status of the judiciary in Israel.

The Rise of Theocratic Democracy

Abstract: Many scholars and prodemocracy organizations have documented a global democratic recession that has been occurring since the mid-2000s. Yet the reason for this democratic decay remains disputed. This article argues that the global democratic recession has coincided with, and can be largely attributed to, the emergence of an antidemocratic form of religious majoritarianism that has swept across the world since the turn of the century. The author calls this development "theocratic democracy." Theocratic democracy results when religious groups and holders of state power strike an unspoken grand bargain: Political leaders back majoritarian religious groups, and these groups in return use their spiritual authority to back the political leaders. The rise of theocratic democracy has had devastating consequences for democracy.

Resisting Academic Neoliberalism

What are the prospects for critique in an age of collapse? Collapsing ecosystems, “democratic decay,” vicious “culture wars,” and changing knowledge economies all impact the conditions of possibility for academic critique. Universities have become bastions of “academic neoliberalism,” driven by managerialism, rankings, and punishing overwork. Terms such as “postcritique” capture the possibility that critique has literally “run out of steam,” as Bruno Latour famously put it. This article takes the form of a staged call to arms to address some of these issues. First, it sets out to name the combination of economic and cultural forces that constitute “academic neoliberalism,” and to propose a constructive strategy against them. Second, it critiques debates about “postcritique.” Third, it argues that academic neoliberalism can be resisted and that this is now primary business for the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. The article closes by proposing new scholarly practices based in “constitutive criticism,” explicitly oriented towards the retrograde politics of the present.

Information, doubt, and democracy: how digitization spurs democratic decay

ABSTRACT The amount of information available to citizens due to global digitization and new technologies is unprecedented. However, in established democracies where access to alternative sources of information is guaranteed and educational levels are high, we witness a rise in attitudes and actions that threaten democratic foundations. Some citizens succumb to misinformation that has led them down the path of radicalization and violence; others withdraw completely from political life. How do we explain these developments? Building on democratic theory and the concepts of informational learned helplessness and selective exposure, we introduce a theoretical framework that connects digitization and digital technologies to attitudes and behaviour that threaten democracy even before democratic decay manifests. We argue that AI-assisted digital technologies expose societies to an abundance of contradictory information, limit citizens’ ability to assess their trustworthiness, and reinforce the tailored dissemination of misinformation. We present the US and Germany as empirical plausibility probes that show how these features drive some citizens towards informational agnosticism, which results in de-politicization and political apathy. Others might become misbelievers who display negative attitudes towards democracy and/or engage in anti-democratic actions. Our probe offers an initial empirical illustration that provides a basis for further systematic investigations of digital technology’s effects on democracy.

An Anatomy Lesson for Democrats

Abstract The extensive political science, sociology, and legal literatures on democratic backsliding all tend to approach the issue in the same way: Start with a recent example of democratic decay. Then reason back from that example to generate a more extensive account of backsliding mechanisms or consequences. In contrast, Norwegian political scientist and sociologist Stein Ringen, in a book called How Democracies Live: Power, Statecraft, and Freedom in Modern Societies, offers a diagnosis of democratic backsliding that flips this standard sequence of analysis. Rather than beginning with case studies, Ringen offers an investigation of five “core” concepts of political theory. Those who seek to ameliorate democracy's current woes, he contends, should start with this sort of very general anatomy lesson. Only with the resulting conceptual map of political theory can they develop specific lessons for the task of managing democratic revival today. By negative implication, Ringen suggests, reformers will be led astray by starting with a specific case. The latter approach, he implies, causes them to overlook or misconstrue basic elements of the political order that must be fixed before the democratic ship can be righted. This review considers whether Ringen's anatomy-inspired method yields insights and, further, whether, more generally, an anatomical approach to political concepts can deepen our understanding of democracy and its present travails. It offers reasons for skepticism on both counts. It may well be possible to construct a taxonomy of political concepts to clarify the terms of democratic survival. But the specific taxonomy of core concepts offered in How Democracies Live does not plainly succeed.

Pandemics, Populism and Democracy

Covid 19 pandemic is an external factor that imposed itself on the global stage. Societies are considered open systems that can be influenced by the pandemic. This research will firstly explore the obligatory etiquettes that have been imposedon people's lifestyles by the emergence of Covid-19 pandemic. Secondly, it will study the triggering effect of Covid-19 pandemic on the populist environment. Thirdly, it will investigate the relationship among Covid-19, populism, and democratic systems. A qualitative research methodology will be used, specifically a phenomenological hermeneutic analysis of the phenomenon of populism in the Covid-19 pandemic crisis environment and its effect on democratic rights. Additionally, the different responses ofpopulists towards the Covid- 19 pandemic will be studied in order to see whether populist rhetoric triggers democratic decay of rights.

Court-packing and democratic decay: A necessary relationship?

AbstractA growing body of literature on the role of courts in democratic backsliding claims that court-packing weakens liberal democracy. However, this is not necessarily the case. The goals of the actors who produce court-packing help to explain why the co-optation of the judiciary can have a substantial negative effect on liberal democracy in some (although not all) cases. In this respect, we distinguish two types of court-packing. First,policy-driven court-packingoccurs when politicians manipulate the composition of courts in order to assure a quick implementation of policies. Although this tends to negatively affect judicial independence, it is not per se a first step towards regime change. Second,regime-driven court-packinghappens when politicians alter the composition of the courts with the goal of eroding democracy. In this case, court-packing’s negative effect on judicial independence has a systemic negative effect on different dimensions of liberal democracy. Relying on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, we conceptualize these two types of court-packing by comparing two cases: Carlos Menem (1989–99) in Argentina, seeking judicial support to carry out pro-market economic reforms, and Hugo Chávez (1999–2013) and Nicolás Maduro (2013–present) in Venezuela, seeking to control the judiciary in the context of democratic backsliding.

SS-HORSE extension of the no-core shell model: Application to resonances in He7

Theoretical ab initio studies of resonances in the unbound $^{7}\mathrm{He}$ nucleus are presented. We perform no-core shell-model calculations with $NN$ interactions Daejeon16 and JISP16 and utilize the SS-HORSE method to calculate the $S$ matrix for two-body channels $n+^{6}\mathrm{He}$ and $n+^{6}\mathrm{He}^{*}$ with $^{6}\mathrm{He}$ respectively in the ground and excited ${2}^{+}$ states as well as for the four-body democratic decay channel $^{4}\mathrm{He}+n+n+n$. The resonant energies and widths are obtained by numerical location of the $S$-matrix poles. We describe all experimentally known $^{7}\mathrm{He}$ resonances and suggest an interpretation of an observed wide resonance of unknown spin-parity.

Caesar’s First Consulship and Rome’s Democratic Decay

SummaryThis article argues for the usefulness of recent scholarship on democratic decay (especially in the disciplines of political science and constitutional law) for explaining the breakdown of Rome’sres publicaduring the 50s BCE, with a particular focus on Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s “How Democracies Die” (2018). Using “democracy” in the neo-republican sense of government free from domination, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how the actions and reactions of political actors can damage a political system without any intention to overthrow it. This article combines their insights with concepts from Christian Meier’s “Res Publica Amissa”(2nd edition 1980) to analyse Caesar’s first consulship in 59 BCE. After explaining how the theory can responsibly be applied, it closely examines the major events of the year, especially the contest over the agrarian law. Caesar’s actions throughout the year demonstrate Levitsky and Ziblatt’s warning signs for a potential authoritarian, as do those of the opposition. This analysis helps us more clearly understand just how the events of “the consulship of Julius and Caesar” (Suet. Iul. 20.2) contributed to Rome’s democratic decay in succeeding years. The article connects to much recent work on late-republican political institutions. It also helps make this dramatic period of Roman history comprehensible to political scientists by analysing it in their own theoretical terms.

“Good” Court-Packing? The Paradoxes of Constitutional Repair in Contexts of Democratic Decay

AbstractU.S. debates on reforming the Supreme Court, including controversial arguments to break the norm against court-packing to repair the democratic system, have generally focused on historical precedents and the domestic system, with scant comparative analysis. However, the U.S. debate raises fundamental questions for comparative constitutional lawyers regarding the paradoxes of constitutional repair in contexts of democratic decay, framed here as a distinct category of constitutional transition. This study argues that sharpening our analytical tools for understanding such reforms requires a novel comparative and theoretical approach valorizing the experiences of Global South states and drawing on, and connecting, insights across four overlapping research fields: Democratic decay, democratization, constitution-building, and transitional justice. The article accordingly pursues comparative analysis of the legitimacy of court-packing through case-studies of Turkey and Argentina to offer a five-dimensional analytical framework: (i) democratic context; (ii) articulated reform purpose; (iii) reform options; (iv) reform process; and (v) repetition risk. In doing so, this article seeks not to present a rigid check-list for evaluating the legitimacy of contested reforms, but rather, to foreground important dimensions of reforms aimed at reversing democratic decay as an emergent global challenge for public law meriting closer attention.

Pandemic power grab

ABSTRACT Is Covid-19 undermining European democracies? Recent scholarship overlooks the fact that most pandemic-related erosions of democracy can be attributed to illiberal inertia long in place before 2019. Did the democratic decay occur during the pandemic or due to the pandemic? We analyse the extent to which pandemic power grabs succeeded and failed in Europe with special attention to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The executive power of the purse was an opportunity to abuse state resources. Governments that engage in the “pandemic heist” with impunity can be directly linked to a power grab due to the pandemic.

Venezuelan regional elections, democratic backsliding, and autocratization in the 2010s

ABSTRACT While explanations of democratic backsliding in Venezuela have focused on a host of national-level processes, few scholars have considered subnational drivers of democratic decay. This paper explains how Venezuelan leaders used electoral manipulation in regional elections, targeted punishment of subnational authorities, and creation of parallel subnational political-administrative bodies to undermine democracy and aid in the consolidation of authoritarianism in the 2010s. During the presidency of Hugo Chávez, the government sought to win elections under relatively free conditions but pursued highly partisan attacks on opposition governors and mayors, limiting their autonomy and authority, while centralizing power. Then, as the Nicolás Maduro government faced threats to its hegemony at the ballot box, electoral manipulation gave way to outright fraud. The study highlights novel forms of subnational control and shows how regional elections and center-subnational relations helped push Venezuela from an electoral democracy in 2010 to an electoral authoritarian regime by decade’s end.