Democratic Norms Research Articles

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: The Autocratic Subversion of Brazil’s Fourth Estate

This article investigates the strategies modern-day autocrats use to delegitimate the press as a means of consolidating power, including in democratic states. Using content analysis and Brazil as a case study, I examine Bolsonaro’s online discourse on X and YouTube, during the second half of his administration (January 2021–December 2022). I argue that Bolsonaro endeavors to promote an image of the press that centers on three elements: unreliability, obsolescence, and being an enemy to the people. The delegitimation of the press through discursive, insidious means suggests a change in the way autocrats exercise power. Rather than deploying the repressive tactics of old, modern autocrats are updating their toolbox to monopolize power while enjoying the legitimacy normally granted by democratic norms. These findings raise questions about the dispersion of authoritarian practices in supposed democracies.

Analyzing the Institutional and Socio-Political Impacts of Sheikh Hasina’s Departure on Bangladesh’s Democracy

Sheikh Hasina’s departure from the position of Prime Minister of Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, following prolonged anti-government protests, marks a significant turning point in the nation’s political landscape. Hasina, whose tenure was characterized by notable economic advancements and controversial governance, faced a dramatic fall from power as a result of mounting public dissent and international criticism. Her administration's authoritarian practices and failure to address key public grievances, including the brutal suppression of student protests, eroded her support and ultimately led to her fleeing the country. The immediate effects of her departure include heightened political instability, potential disruptions in policy continuity, and public unrest. In the long term, the success of Bangladesh’s transition will hinge on the new leadership’s ability to manage economic challenges, uphold democratic norms, and maintain institutional integrity. The situation underscores the broader global struggle between authoritarianism and democratic aspirations, highlighting the crucial role of effective governance and inclusive political engagement in shaping Bangladesh’s future trajectory.

The Good Muslim as a Quest for Jus Post Bellum in a Nation in Transition

This paper explores the search for justice after the war in Tahmima Anam’s novel, The Good Muslim. The novel deals with the aftermath of ‘the Liberation War of Bangladesh’ in the 1970s and early 80s, when the country was gravely suffering from famine, consecutive murders of their prominent leaders, political upheavals, natural disasters, and paralyzed democratic norms in the hands of a Dictator Hussein Muhammad Ershad. In such a context, Maya Haque, the protagonist of the novel, and an erstwhile freedom fighter continues writing and fighting for modern education, justice for the rape victims of the war, and democracy in the country. The study analyzes narrative data from the novel to see how the female characters struggle for justice after the war. For this purpose, it uses Larry May’s insights on ‘jus post bellum’. May has proposed six criteria for post-war justice, including ‘reconciliation’ and ‘rebuilding’, to maintain lasting peace in a post-war society. The novel entails these conditions and brings transitional justice to the fore of discourse through the literary creation. The paper claims that the protagonist is not only raising her voice for certain characters in the novel, rather she is constantly contributing to the broader issue of jus post bellum, which has been the most important, yet the most ‘neglected’ topic in just war theories. The article concludes with the idea that a fictitious work like The Good Muslim can be a good voice for the voiceless and a loud and clear advocacy for justice after the war. It can contribute to maintaining law and order and build up lasting peace preventing further violence in a postwar society.

Canaries of Democracy: The Role of Public Libraries in Times of Political Turmoil

ABSTRACT This article reports conclusions from a three-year research project on Swedish public libraries. The focus of the project is on librarians experience of libraries mission to promote democracy when democratic norms and values are challenged politically by radical right populism. Results of a longitudinal survey point to stability and lack of political interest over time, but increased societal polarization causes several ethical dilemmas for librarians. Examples of illegitimate political influence and librarians adapting to changes in the political climate call for renewed discussions on the professional role and understandings of democracy in library practice.

“It Forces You to Publish Some Shit”: Toward a Taxonomy of De-Democratizing Journalistic Practices

Several studies argue that journalism can facilitate and shape democratic backsliding when news organizations are captured by business and political elites. Under these conditions, journalists will likely fail to hold political actors to account and provide information essential for public deliberation. Gradually, news outlets devolve to provide unfair representations based on private interests instead of news coverage guided by public interest. However, research still lacks a systematic and detailed analysis of practices in news production that could be capable of damaging democracy. Not only is evidence very scarce, but it is also limited to the content analysis of news outputs and editorials. Using forty semistructured interviews and three case studies, this research investigates how journalists from the most influential outlets in Brazil covered key political events within a period of constant decline in the quality of democracy (2016–2021). Then, I build on the results to propose a new typology of de-democratizing journalistic practices: soft steering (recommendations pretending concern with standards, including partisan interpretations of balance), hard steering (direct orders, including internal censorship or entirely pre-defined stories), and anticipatory steering (reporters and editors act on their own based on perceptions and previous instructions). Moreover, this research offers evidence that de-democratizing journalistic practices can be internalized by news practitioners and, over time, replace democratic norms. Finally, it suggests a dynamic relationship between censorship and self-censorship in which control not only inhibits actions but also compels journalists to perform in specific ways.

Unmasking the Authoritarian Mob Boss: A Critical Analysis of Donald Trump’s Political Leadership

This article comprehensively examines Donald Trump’s political leadership, arguing that his tenure as the 45th President of the United States exhibited characteristics commonly associated with authoritarian mob bosses. Drawing upon various empirical evidence and theoretical political science frameworks, the study sheds light on the underlying dynamics that shaped Trump’s leadership style and its implications for democratic governance. The analysis begins by contextualizing Trump’s rise to power within the erosion of democratic norms. It explores how his rhetoric, characterized by demagoguery and the demonization of opponents, mirrors the tactics employed by mob bosses to consolidate their power and suppress dissent. Moreover, the study uncovers the striking similarities between Trump’s administration management and the hierarchical structures of organized crime, highlighting his reliance on loyalty, personal connections, and a disregard for institutional checks and balances. Furthermore, this research delves into Trump’s autocratic tendencies, as evidenced by his disdain for the free press, attacks on the judiciary, and attempts to undermine the integrity of democratic processes. It reveals how these actions align with the strategies employed by authoritarian leaders to silence opposition and perpetuate their dominance. By examining Trump’s presidency through process tracing, this study contributes to our understanding of the complex relationship between authoritarianism and the erosion of democratic institutions. The findings underscore the urgent need for continued scholarly and public scrutiny of leaders who exhibit traits akin to authoritarian mob bosses to safeguard the principles of democratic governance and protect the integrity of liberal democracies.

Interventions of post-colonial states in the normative structure of world politics: the case of Iran and the norm of democracy

Within Global IR a constructivist-postcolonial literature is emerging which inquires into how postcolonial states intervene into the normative structure of world politics. This research programme has less covered the question how postcolonial states relate to the international norm of democracy, how and in which ways do they contest this norm, and to which effects? This question is important both to study how the ‘postcolonial condition’ can be overcome, as well as to understand which contours and shapes the norm of democracy might be taking in a multiplex world. To study this multifaceted question from a perspective which acknowledges the shadow of the past, as well as the agency of postcolonial states, Wiener’s concept of norm contestation is applied and further developed in three respects: firstly, by staking out various forms of contestation, that is rejection, strategic contestation and the construction of alternative meaning; secondly, by bringing in identity as a mediating device which impacts the forms of contestation; and thirdly, by studying various sites of contestation where actors beyond the state are also taken into account. This framework is then applied to heuristically study the case of Iran which is of particular interest as it intervenes in the global contestation of the norm of democracy on a dual level of external resistance and internal dissent. Studying Iranian contestation at the UN, within Iran and in Iranian-EU engagement, it becomes evident that during times of geopolitical confrontation with the US, the spectre of the past is produced as present and the form of contestation features dialectics of hypocrisy which harm the norm of democracy. At the same time, we also see a strengthening of the norm of democracy through hybridity both in Iranian encounters with the EU, as well as in the contestation of meanings of democracy within Iran itself.

Gender and support for undemocratic politicians

Several studies have examined whether attitudinal factors make people more willing to accept political elites violating basic democratic norms. However, the role of more basic socio-demographic characteristics, such as gender, remains underexplored. This may be a mistake, as studies suggest that these influence the evaluation of democratic transgressions. We focus on the role of gender in evaluations of democratic transgressions and re-examine data from two conjoint experiments conducted in Finland. We examine whether the gender of the politician violating democratic norms matters, whether the gender of the person judging the democratic violations matters, and whether it matters for the evaluation of the democratic violation when both the candidate and the respondent are of the same gender. Our results indicate that gender plays at best a limited role, as we find no evidence that candidate gender or the gender of the respondent matters for the evaluations.

Driving Forces of Impunity in South Asia: A Human Rights Framework

This paper is the outcome of a research on impunity in South Asia. Undertaken by Forum Asia in 2021, the research collected cases from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The cases related to impunity were collected by the country researchers deputed in these countries. The lead author and co-author of this paper were the main contributors in compiling the country reports, processing the data, editing them and publishing them as country reports and South Asia regional report. Out of the huge compilation, this paper mainly sketches the debates over the constructs on impunity prevailing in these countries. The paper highlights how these countries are combating impunity with respect to the drivers and to what extent this effort is compatible in the realm of global human rights framework. Impunity is found deeply rooted in South Asia both in the cognitive, productive, economic, and political lives of the victims as well as on the psychosocial mindset of society. Individual victims of gross violations of human rights have been denied access to justice at large. This develops post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) along with loss of memory, nightmares, excessive fear, loss of attention, loss of self-esteem, self-isolation, distrust, withdrawal from normal life events as well as a refusal to participate in civil, cultural and social interactions. The paper concludes that most South Asian states follow democratic norms and values as they hold periodic elections and form governments. These states, however, severely lack concrete plans and tools to combat impunity. The paper suggests the vibrant role of the legislation penal codes in these countries to make accountable to the stakeholders involved in impunity matters both as perpetrators and those acting against the perpetrators.

Stewards, defenders, progenitors, and collaborators: Courts in the age of democratic decline

AbstractIn this introductory essay to the special issue of Law & Policy, “Global Perspectives on Judicial Politics and Democratic Backsliding,” we critically examine the paradoxical role of courts during episodes of democratic backsliding. Despite operating without direct democratic accountability—relying instead on legal precedents and doctrinal interpretations—courts are pivotal in defending democratic integrity during episodes of backsliding. This issue, featuring 10 articles by 15 scholars, offers a comprehensive and nuanced analysis of judicial politics of autocratization. Half of the articles deal directly with the U.S. judiciary, highlighting its unique standing that allows it to both enable and resist democratic backsliding. The other half of the issue explores case studies from Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, highlighting a great deal of variability of tactics, approaches and outcomes. Published during a critical electoral year in 2024, this collection emphasizes the need for ongoing research into the judiciaries' dual capacity to both safeguard and undermine democratic norms.

Securitisation of COVID-19 pandemic: policy measures in India and implications for health governance

ABSTRACT Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, states throughout India, headed by the Centre, backed punitive policy actions that took precedence over democratic norms. Securitisation measures implemented by the government resulted in harsh restrictions on citizens’ daily lives, the imprisonment of journalists reporting the pandemic and its management by authorities, and substantial invasions of people's privacy through the deployment of intrusive digital technology. These problems are investigated by looking at how the COVID-19 pandemic functioned as justification for authorities to violate democratic procedures as a consequence of the pandemic itself being characterised as a state of exception necessitating such ostensible measures. It is also demonstrated how securitisation as a means to monitor health, and health as a reason for greater securitisation, came to the fore in state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Human Rights in Nepal's Democracy: Achieving Best Practices

This article outlines the status of human rights practices and provisions within Nepal, a democratic nation where democracy, progress, and the rule of law are interconnected with the preservation of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Nepal, as a democracy, ensures the protection of human rights for its citizens. Over the past few decades, significant strides have been made in enhancing these practices and provisions, particularly in granting rights to marginalized groups as per the 2015 Constitution. However, despite these advancements, the Nepalese government has consistently overlooked recommendations from the Commission to investigate and prosecute human rights violations, as mandated by the Constitution. There is a need for the Nepalese government to prioritize the human rights movement, which faces numerous challenges from activities that contradict the principles of the constitution, democratic norms, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The paper highlights progress in human rights provisions and practices, alongside suggestions to actively ratify the Rome Statute to enhance Nepal's international reputation.

Affective Polarization in the 2022 South Korean Presidential Election: Causes and Consequences

In this study, we analyzed the factors that intensified affective polarization among voters during the 2022 South Korean presidential election. We also examined this polarization's effect on their political attitudes, including their satisfaction with democracy, perception of the fairness of elections, and trust in political institutions. We found that the greater the perceived ideological differences between the two parties the People Power Party (PPP) and the Democratic Party ― (DP)―and the more extreme the voter's ideology, the more affective polarization increased. We also found that affective polarization intensified with increasing ideological extremity among all age cohorts except those in their forties. Finally, in contrast to DP supporters, PPP supporters' political attitudes became more negative as their affective polarization increased because the opposing party, the DP, was the governing party. This suggests that affective polarization may polarize support for democratic norms and trust in the political institutions that underpin democracy, depending on one's partisan allegiances.

Autocratization Spillover: When Electing an Authoritarian Erodes Election Trust across Borders.

The rich literature on election trust predominantly uses domestic determinants as explanatory factors. But given the international nature of the autocratization wave, can an autocratization event across borders erode election trust? This article argues that an authoritarian's electoral success in a neighboring country can shatter democratic norms and demonstrate the viability of authoritarians. This autocratization event abroad can thus reduce citizens' principled support for democracy and its political system. Consequently, citizens across borders are less likely to see democratic elections as the "only game in town" and they have less trust in elections. To test this idea, I study the spillover effects of the 2018 Brazilian presidential election, in which an authoritarian candidate won decisively. Using the AmericasBarometer in Colombia that was launched throughout this election, I find that the election trust of Colombian citizens erodes after Jair Bolsonaro's electoral success. To probe into the mechanism, I uncover that his electoral victory leads Colombian citizens to be less supportive of the domestic political system and reduces their principled support for democracy. The causal mediation analysis demonstrates that these two variables mediate the effect of the authoritarian's electoral success on election trust. These findings on autocratization spillover effects illustrate the importance of external autocratization events in the study of election trust.

Protivládní extremismus - konspirace a delegitimizace státu s implikací pro Českou republiku

Anti-government extremism in Germany may represent examples of the significant shift and growth of anti-government movements and anti-system activism in the past few years. Conspiracies and insurrections to overthrow a democratically elected government are certainly not new phenomena, but they are uncommon in consolidated Western democracies. The paper tries to convey the manifestations of delegitimization movements of sovereign citizens with an emphasis on the potential of political violence in the context of correlations of conspiracy theories and disinformation and radicalization group mobilization.Selected sovereign citizen movements are introduced based on their motivations, goals, and strategies of resistance to existing government structures.. The evaluation is done with the help of an analytical model of three dimensions of assessing the level of anti-government extremism of sovereign movements: 1. delegitimization of the democratic order, 2. offensive social action, 3. democratic norms within the sovereign movement. Expressions of coercion against public authorities, state institutions and courts in the Czech Republic copy the expressions of foreign sovereign citizen movements, including the terminology and form used.With the development of the anti-systemic scene in recent years, frustrations that have been embedded in society for a long time crystallized, among other things. Among them for example deep-rooted hostility is towards the division of Czechoslovakia among a certain part of the population. It appears a lot in the 40/50+ generation, which, by the way, is becoming the main driver of the anti-systemic discourse.

Partisanship, pragmatism, or idealism? Evaluating public support for backlashes against international courts in backsliding democracies

ABSTRACT With democratic backsliding spreading globally, international courts increasingly find themselves serving as democratic guardrails. This task poses a challenge, as national governments may attempt to punish international courts for trying to constrain their backsliding agendas. Since a government’s calculus for attacking a court is likely influenced by public opinion, we consider the impact of partisanship on the extent of public support for backlash against international courts in backsliding democracies. We theorise that support for backlash is driven by more than partisanship alone. For government partisans, support for backlash decreases with support for the international organisation to which the court belongs, while for opposition partisans it depends on their commitment to the democratic norms the court’s decision defends. We support our expectations by analysing original survey data collected from Hungary in March 2022, immediately following a major pro-democracy decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Tackling Trump: Contemporary Politics and the Creation of Official Knowledge

Textbooks remain important curricular resources in K-12 classrooms. However, the narratives they provide are not neutral and often influenced by external forces. Extant research has shown that history textbooks often present whitewashed and heavily biased accounts of the past; however, less is known about how textbook authors and publishers depict recent historical events, particularly those that remain politically contentious. In this study, I analyze how four recently published U.S. history textbooks depict the Trump era. I found that the textbooks varied in their explicit criticisms of Trump, even when describing his dispositions and attacks on democratic norms, with the textbook aimed specifically at K-12 students normalizing Trump to a greater extent than the textbooks written for college undergraduates and advanced K-12 students.

Trump's Playbook of Electoral Manipulation: An Interplay of Manipulation Tactics in a Longstanding Democracy

The attempt by former President Donald Trump to manipulate the United States’ 2020 presidential elections is a salient example of how electoral manipulation has changed to adapt to the new political and societal context that marks present-day elections. This highlights the need for a novel approach to help us better understand electoral manipulation, which is becoming increasingly common all over the world. This article addresses this need by presenting a novel framework for examining electoral manipulation in the United States in the 2020s. A novel feature of the framework is a focus on the interplay between different manipulation tactics. It identifies nine electoral manipulation tactics that interact with and reinforce each other: breaking democratic norms, disinformation, gerrymandering, voter suppression, hacking and leaking, collusion with foreign states, intraparty pressure, intimidation and violence, and corrupting state and government institutions.

Обострение отношений Польши и ЕС: возможные варианты развития и решения дезинтеграционных процессов

The aim of this study is to analyze the aggravation of relations between Poland and the European Union from 2016 to 2023 and to identify potential development scenarios. The study identifies several forms of disintegration processes within Poland-EU relations, including challenges to the primacy of EU law, erosion of democratic norms, and disputes over national sovereignty. Key actions by both parties aimed at mitigating these processes include dialogue, negotiation, and institutional reform. However, the underlying issue of conflicting national values poses a significant obstacle to resolution. The tensions between Poland and the EU are rooted in divergent interpretations of democracy, the rule of law, and national sovereignty. The EU’s insistence on adherence to its legal and democratic standards clashes with Poland’s perceived defense of traditional national values. Resolving these tensions requires a delicate balance between respecting national sovereignty and upholding EU principles. The effective implementation of these reforms should be deemed satisfactory by the European Commission. Only after aligning Poland’s judicial system with EU standards will the country receive the majority of subsidies, grants, and funds from the European Union, which can then be directed towards supporting national agricultural producers. In conclusion, the aggravation of relations between Poland and the EU underscores the challenges facing European integration. Addressing disintegration processes within the union requires a concerted effort by both parties to reconcile conflicting interests and values. Poland’s commitment to aligning its judicial system with EU standards is essential for restoring trust and cooperation within the union.

Adapting to Democratic Norms: Party Financing Regulations in Indonesia and Germany Compared

Adapting to Democratic Norms: Party Financing Regulations in Indonesia and Germany Compared