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Cited by 2,331Political Conflict and GovernancePolitical Theory and DemocracyPolitics and Society in Latin America

On Democratic Backsliding

Bermeo, Nancy·2016·Journal of Democracy
DOI 10.1353/jod.2016.0012
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Abstract

Democratic backsliding (meaning the state-led debilitation or elimination of the political institutions sustaining an existing democracy) has changed dramatically since the Cold War. Open-ended coups d’état, executive coups, and blatant election-day vote fraud are declining while promissory coups, executive aggrandizement and strategic electoral manipulation and harassment are increasing. Contemporary forms of backsliding are especially vexing because they are legitimated by the very institutions democracy promoters prioritize but, overall, backsliding today reflects democracy’s advance and not its retreat. The current mix of backsliding is more easily reversible than the past mix and successor dictatorships are shorter-lived and less authoritarian.

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  • Democratic backsliding is viewed by Bermeo and Greskovits as an ongoing, gradual process rather than a turning point that can be clearly identified in time.

    “Both view backsliding as an ongoing, gradual process rather than a turning point that can be clearly identified in time.”

    From Towards a Conceptual Framework for Struggles over Democracy in Backsliding States: Gender Equality Policy in Central Eastern Europe (2018) · cites this paper as Bermeo, 2016

  • Another important dimension of democracy is whether there are constraints on the chief executive.

    “Another important dimension of democracy is whether there are constraints on the chief executive.”

    From Measuring Democratic Backsliding (2024) · cites this paper as Bermeo (2016)

  • Bermeo pointed to executive aggrandizement as a common form of backsliding that occurs when elected executives weaken checks on executive power.

    “Bermeo (2016, 10) pointed to executive aggrandizement as a ' common form of backsliding [that] occurs when elected executives weaken checks on executive power. '”

    From Measuring Democratic Backsliding (2024) · cites this paper as Bermeo (2016)

  • Populism often drives the dismantling of formal and informal guardrails of liberal democracy, conceived as democratic backsliding.

    “it is precisely the observation that populism often drives the dismantling of formal and informal guardrails of liberal democracy -conceived of as democratic backsliding, i.e., the gradual reversal of democratic standards by incumbent governments (Bermeo, 2016(Bermeo, , 2022;;Coppedge, 2017) -which is seen as particularly dangerous (Levitsky & Way, 2002).”

    From Public Administration Under Populist Rule: Standing Up Against Democratic Backsliding (2024) · cites this paper as Bermeo, 2016

  • Democratic backsliding can cause a regime to slowly rigidify in a quasi-authoritarian form.

    “This might be the case when democratic backsliding occurs, and the regime slowly rigidifies in a quasi-authoritarian form (Bermeo, 2016).”

    From No Virtue Like Resilience: Machiavelli’s Realistic Justification of Democracy (2024) · cites this paper as Bermeo, 2016

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Authors
Bermeo, N.
Corresponding author
Bermeo, Nancy
Venue
Journal of Democracy
Publisher
Project MUSE
Published
2016-01
Volume
27
Issue
1
Pages
5-19
ISSN
  • 1045-5736 (ISSN-L)
  • 1086-3214
DOI
10.1353/jod.2016.0012
OpenAlex
W2296297756
Cited by
2,331
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 426 · 2025: 427 · 2024: 345 · 2023: 288 · 2022: 211 · 2021: 222 · 2020: 191 · 2019: 131 · 2018: 70 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 5 · 2012: 1
FWCI
209.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of democracy (publishedVersion)
  • Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Politics and Society in Latin America
Keywords
democratic backsliding, coups d'état, electoral manipulation, political harassment, democracy promotion, authoritarianism

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