(I’m unsure if this violates the 20-year rule: I’m asking about historical context/examples/analogs of current events. I apologize if this question is not allowed)
Around the world, including in the United States where I’m from, democracy has been backsliding. Has this phenomenon happened before, either globally or isolated to a country or region? If so, what was the result? Has anything ever stopped or reversed this type of backsliding? Thank you!
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I’m assuming by “democracy backsliding” – you mean a nation that has a gradual erosion of democratic institutions and practices, in favor of a central authoritarian power.
Yes it has, obviously plenty of nations have had this happen. For United States, the best example would be FDR’s presidency. Besides the abandonment of the 2-term precedent. FDR’s Reorganization Act of 1939 set way for executive-branch cutting and appending government.
FDR also issued a record 3,721 executive orders and became the central leader for economic policy. Prior to FDR, the driving force of economic policy was congress.
While none of these may seem inherently undemocratic, power is a Zero-sum game. Many of the same American citizens, who were able to vote in 1940, were sent to Internment camps in 1942 by FDR.
Most historians would agree American-Democracy subsequently strengthened shortly-after WW2 in the 50s and 60s.
Obviously there’s examples of democracy falling and not getting back up, Alexander Lukashenko won a fair election in 1994 and has since dismantled all democratic norms and become a de facto dictator in Belarus.
TL;DR Democracy backsliding is not new, and has sporadic results