democratic backsliding
Definition
Democratic backsliding refers to the state-led debilitation or elimination of the political institutions sustaining an existing democracy, a process that has accelerated globally such that approximately 71% of the world's population lived under autocratic rule by 2023. It encompasses mechanisms including weakened institutional checks, executive overreach, and the erosion of individual rights. Societal responses to backsliding vary considerably, from mass collective action to indifference or active support, with variation shaped by the degree to which democratic identity and collective memory lead groups to appraise backsliding as unjust and collectively resistible. Backsliding also carries direct psychological consequences for those living within affected institutions, generating partisan asymmetries in subjective well-being as individuals' support for or opposition to government actions correlates with their happiness and life satisfaction.
Sources: Lavie-Driver & Linden (2026), Wu et al. (2026)
Related Terms
- partisanship (1 shared article)
- politics (1 shared article)
- polarization (1 shared article)
- subjective well-being (1 shared article)
- social identity (1 shared article)
- collective action (1 shared article)
- authoritarianism (1 shared article)
- collective memory (1 shared article)
Applications
Democratic Backsliding and Collective Action
Whether individuals or groups mobilise against democratic backsliding depends substantially on how strongly they identify with democracy as part of their group identity, whether they perceive backsliding as a collective injustice, and whether they believe coordinated resistance can succeed. A framework applied to cases in Russia, Israel, and the United States shows that collective memories portraying democracy as historically central tend to increase injustice appraisals and perceived group efficacy, whereas memories that valorise authoritarian stability suppress both. Affective polarisation can also redirect collective action toward anti-democratic ends, as illustrated by the January 6th Capitol storming, where supporters of Trump appraised an election outcome as unjust and acted to overturn it.
Sources: Lavie-Driver & Linden (2026)
Democratic Backsliding and Subjective Well-being
During the early months of President Trump's second term, a period characterised by sweeping executive actions and widespread concern about democratic decline, Democrats consistently reported lower life satisfaction and happiness than Republicans across five weekly measurement waves. Support for administration actions correlated with higher well-being, while support for oppositional actions correlated with lower well-being, and these associations held after controlling for political affiliation and demographics. This pattern suggests that alignment with a backsliding government may confer short-term psychological comfort, while principled opposition carries measurable psychological costs.
Sources: Wu et al. (2026)
Democratic Backsliding and Partisan Affiliation
Partisan affiliation structured both attitudes toward government actions and well-being outcomes during a period of democratic backsliding in the United States. Republicans expressed greater support for the Trump administration's actions and reported higher subjective well-being, while Democrats favoured oppositional actions and reported lower well-being, with an initial decline followed by a partial rebound over the five-week study period. System justification, motivated social cognition, and person-environment fit are each proposed as mechanisms linking partisan identity to these divergent well-being trajectories under conditions of democratic decline.
Sources: Wu et al. (2026)
