"Global Democracy in Troubled Times"

In the year 1989, the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving the Western Democracies triumphant. Francis Fukuyama wrote in his famous book, “The End of History and the Last Man” (published in 1992), that linear evolutionary history reached its apogee in liberal democracy, which has proven to be the most effective system of government ethically, politically and economically.

The year 2024 is the year of a new challenge that has arisen to the established democratic orthodoxy. Martin Wolf of the Financial Times calls it “Democracy’s Year of Peril.” Many democracies, including India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hungary, South Africa, France, Mexico, Britain, Venezuela and the United States are holding elections this year.

There are concerns in many democratic capitals that politicians and parties with questionable commitments to constitutional democracy are rising or consolidating authoritarian power in various parts of the world. Hungary and Venezuela are two leading examples. Even the United States may fall…