It seems that 2023 will be another dismal year for democracy.
There have been several coups in Africa, Tunisia — long touted as the Arab Spring’s one success story — has seen the consolidation of an authoritarian (and xenophobic) regime, and Donald Trump appears to be on course to secure the Republican nomination for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
How we describe such developments matters: After all, words have consequences. Unfortunately, some of the language used to analyze the global democratic recession is having precisely the wrong effect. The term “backsliding” — which has contributed to a curious passivity among pro-democracy forces — is a case in point.