The disparate cases and hard questions of interpretation underline the need for nuance.

More than 160 significant anti-government protests erupted around the world this year, according to Carnegie’s Global Protest Tracker, with many driven by voting-related grievances.

If Trump’s new administration were to walk away from all elements of global leadership, U.S. democracy support would evaporate. More likely, however, is that Trump’s second presidency will see various shifts in U.S. global engagement but hardly a full abrogation.

Democracies the world over are not being undone by disenchanted citizens but by leaders with predatory political ambitions that use all opportunities to defy constraints to their power.

Some contests have been depressing spectacles of authoritarian control, while others offer a brighter snapshot.

Backsliding is less a result of democracies failing to deliver than of democracies failing to constrain the predatory political ambitions and methods of certain elected leaders. Policymakers and aid providers seeking to limit backsliding should tailor their diplomatic and aid interventions accordingly. 

Despite a favorable political environment in recent years on both sides of the Atlantic for close European-U.S. cooperation on international democracy support, only policy convergence has been achieved.

Democracies are divided

Responding to rising autocratic assertiveness and an ongoing democratic recession, the Biden administration has advanced multiple new policy and aid initiatives to support democracy globally. An examination of its efforts reveals six main elements, each of which embodies a complex mix of promising opportunities and nagging dilemmas.

Through its efforts to counter the geostrategic reach of China and Russia, the Biden administration aims to defend democracy globally.