Tilting Toward Hope

The trend worldwide over the last two decades has been clear: democracy is slipping. Authoritarianism, anti-pluralism, and anti-institutionalism are all gaining strength.

Freedom House has charted 19 consecutive years of decline in democratic freedom around the globe, saying that, in the last year alone, 60 countries experienced a deterioration in political rights and civil liberties, while only 34 saw improvements.

A century ago, Europe and Asia were beginning a slide into totalitarianism. It took a World War to break authoritarianism’s hold, to usher in an era of constitutional democracy.