American democracy reaches minimums

The report “Global State of Democracy 2026”, by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), shows that freedom of the press, freedom of expression, access to justice and judicial independence are among the indicators in decline.

“ A significant part of the current instability can be attributed to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, whose government has remodeled political culture in the US, where power is now personalized and used to promote restricted individual objectives and carry out revenge against those who criticize the president or his policies, reads in the document entitled “Democracy in an Age of Conflict”.

Comparing 2025 to 2020, “the evolution of the quality of American democracy was entirely negative: the country experienced seven statistically significant setbacks in several indicators relating to representative governance, civil liberties and the rule of law” without verifying corresponding progress, he said.

The authors of the report believe that political changes in the US “had consequences for democracy beyond the borders of the country.”.

“ The erosion of democracy in the US seems to coincide with a growing willingness to circumvent international law and promote national interests through unilateral actions,” they said.

According to the study, 98 of the 173 evaluated countries (57%) deteriorated in at least one essential indicator of democratic performance between 2020 and 2025 and only 55 (32%) progressed in the same period.

Last year marked the 11th consecutive year when the number of countries with democratic setbacks surpassed those with improvements.

The 199-page report evaluates countries in four broad categories (Representation, Rights, Rule of Law and Participation).

The authors warn that the global deterioration of democracy is increasing the risk of violent conflicts, and that the weakening of democratic institutions threatens decades of progress in “democratic peace”.

The International IDEA argues that international support for democracy should be considered a national security priority, and that even moderate investments in this area can help to reduce the conditions that favor the triggering of conflicts.

Europe remains the best-performing region in the world, although the setbacks are increasing, especially in the areas of civil liberties, access to justice and credible elections.

In Africa and West Asia there have been more democratic setbacks than progress, and in Asia and the Pacific there has been more progress than setbacks when Afghanistan and Myanmar are excluded from the analysis.

The report also highlights democratic improvements and encouraging signs of democratic renewal in countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Poland, Sri Lanka and Syria, although it underlines that these advances remain fragile.