<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2026/mar/17/trump-is-aiming-for-dictatorship-thats-the-verdict-of-the-worlds-most-credible-democracy-watchdog>
"The US is no longer a democracy. One of the most credible global sources on
the health of democratic nations now says this outright. The Varieties of
Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at Gothenburg University reaches the alarming
conclusion in its annual report, that the US is hurtling towards autocracy at a
faster rate than Hungary and Turkey.
“Our data on the USA goes back to 1789. What we’re seeing now is the most
severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country,” says Staffan
Lindberg, founder of the institute.
Since 2012, Lindberg has led his small group of researchers in Sweden to become
the world’s leading source for analysis of the health of global democracy. In
their latest report, published on Tuesday, they conclude that the US, for the
first time in more than half a century, has lost its long-term status as a
liberal democracy. The country is now going through a rapid process of what the
report’s authors call “autocratisation”.
“For Orbán in Hungary, it took about four years, for Vučić in Serbia, it took
eight years, and for Erdoğan in Turkey and Modi in India, it took about 10
years to accomplish the suppression of democratic institutions that Trump has
achieved in only one year,” Lindberg says.
US democracy is now back at the worst recorded level since 1965, when US civil
rights laws first introduced de facto universal suffrage. All progress made
since then has been erased, according to the report.
Worldwide, democracy has receded to its lowest levels since the mid-70s. “The
world has never before seen as many countries autocratising at the same time,”
Lindberg says.
A record 41% (3.4 billion) of the world’s population currently resides in
countries where democracy is deteriorating, the report claims, adding that
Washington is leading this global turn away from democracy."
Via Janet Logan.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
