What the election of Donald Trump says about democracy globally

The Harris campaign and many voters claimed that electing Donald Trump would threaten democracy, or even end democracy in America, but how does his election align with global trends on democracy?

Rachel Riedl, professor of government and policy and director of the Center on Global Democracy, says Trump’s actions and signaling illustrate that the United States is not immune to the same democratic backsliding now occurring in an unprecedented number of wealthy countries.

Riedl says: “President Trump’s victory has serious implications for our understanding of the trajectory of democracy globally. It supports the claim that democracy around the world is experiencing a decline. Trump’s indictments for trying to overturn the 2020 election result and praise for and strategic communication with authoritarian leaders from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un are actions that demonstrate his lack of commitment to democratic principles and practices.

“Trump has told the world that he will be a dictator on 'day one.' These actions and signaling suggest that the United States is far from immune to democratic degradation. By extension, advanced industrial democracies are not as resilient to such global waves of democratic erosion and authoritarian resurgence as prior theories in the social sciences have predicted. 

“Democratic backsliding is occurring in an unprecedented number of wealthy countries, the U.S. among them, with leaders using existing democratic institutions to concentrate power in the executive and limit checks on the strongman, to restrict democratic rights, liberties, and participation. With the return of President Trump to the White House via the ballot box, with a popular vote victory, the case suggests that this new form of democratic erosion from within is the modal pathway for long-established democracies to decline."

For interviews contact Damien Sharp, cell (540) 222-8208, drs395@cornell.edu.