It’s not just the United States. With few exceptions, democracies are struggling everywhere.
The Threat to democracy
Global freedom is threatened not just by rising autocracies, but also by major democracies faltering from within. This graph shows the relative change in quality of democracy in key countries since 2014.
V-Dem Institute Liberal Democracy Index, 2023
As a result, one-third of people globally live in countries that are becoming less democratic.
Past decades’ progress towards democracy has stalled and then reversed. Today, more than 2.8 billion people live in countries that are becoming increasingly autocratic.
V-Dem Institute Liberal Democracy Index, 2021
Why are democracies reeling?
Experts have various explanations for why democracy is suddenly receding around the world, all at once. Theories range from technological change and global economic shifts to growing social atomization and backlash to demographic changes.
We protect free & fair elections, regardless of who wins.
The greatest threat to democracy is a stolen or corrupted election. By protecting democracy at its source—the ballot box—we can guard the cornerstone of self-government.
We defend the rule of law from authoritarian threats.
Modern democracies tend to die not at the barrel of a gun, but by the pen of an elected ruler. The Constitution gives us tools to keep our leaders in check.
We prevent disinformation from corrupting fact-based debate.
Even the strongest democracy cannot survive long without healthy political disagreement and shared facts. Together, we can counter disinformation and protect open debate.
The roots of our democracy crisis run deep. For self-government to be sustainable, we must make our democracy more resilient, adaptable, and responsive.
Our mission is to prevent our democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government.
Since 2016, we have…
Delivered key takeaways from the Jan. 6 Committee to 95+ million Americans; polling shows this truth-telling helped educate 2022 midterm voters who rejected election deniers.
Worked with Congressional leadership to shape bipartisan Electoral Count Act reforms enacted in 2022 to prevent a future Congress from overturning election results.
Been credited by Time Magazine as part of the “campaign that saved the 2020 election” by halting efforts to interfere with and overturn the results, and by curbing disinformation.
Our work has produced
150+
legal actions filed nationwide
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Our litigation has produced nationwide injunctions of anti-democratic policies, expansions of voting rights protections in federal case law, and new doctrines against presidential abuses of power.
155 million
voter records protected by VoteShield
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VoteShield, our election monitoring team, analyzes public data to spot improper voter file changes and support Republican and Democratic election officials in 24 states to protect our elections.
4,500+
national & local press stories generated
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We work to shape the national conversation and support reporters in helping the public understand the threats facing our democracy and potential solutions.
