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The United States loses its status as a liberal democracy: ‘Trump is aiming for a dictatorship’ (english.elpais.com)

submitted 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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Donald Trump’s authoritarian drift in his second term places the country on a par with Hungary or Turkey, according to a ranking by Sweden’s V-Dem Institute

Democratic backsliding is advancing in the developed world. The annual report from Sweden's V-Dem Institute leaves no room for doubt: almost a quarter of the world experienced democratic backsliding, or a shift towards autocratization, in 2025, and six of the 10 newly regressive countries identified in the research are located in Europe and North America, including G-7 powers such as Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

But the most unsettling conclusion reached by the Swedish institute is that the United States

once a proud beacon of the more or less free world

is no longer a liberal democracy and is now on a par with countries like Hungary or Turkey, thanks to President Donald Trump. Autocracy is also spreading throughout Europe, but its reach extends far beyond the Old Continent: 41% of the world's population (3.4 billion people) now live in countries where democracy is eroding.

The institute, which belongs to the University of Gothenburg and uses 48 metrics in its evaluation, is one of the most reliable sources when it comes to rating the state of governments around the world, and the conclusion of its 2026 study confirms the worst fears about the authoritarian drift of the U.S. under Trump's leadership.

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[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 23 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Worldwide, democracy has regressed to its lowest levels since the mid-1970s

I've been saying over and over again here, that it's generally been going backwards since the 70's. This goes for democracy, respect for human rights and minorities, and the peace movement.

And many people here simply don't believe it. (I'm guessing younger ones)

[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

We need a second hippie revolution. And I don't mean the half-assed underground "comebacks" from the late 90s and 2010s, a real movement that actually influences policy.

[-] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Hippies were a CIA OP to distract the left from organising and doing drugs instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_CHAOS

[-] mriormro@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 hours ago

Lol, the hippies didn't do shit.

[-] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 6 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Let’s talk about what this really means, though. Why would that happen?

Could it be anything like:

Because power is a fickle structure by nature and therefore democracy is an unstable system?
Because technology advanced so fast that it yields control to whomever sits at its forefront?
Because society chose not to make theoretical laws for technology that had yet been invented?
Because (e.g., Russian) state propaganda was allowed to become so powerful that it actually destabilized global democracy?
Because we were naïvely assuming we had a stable democracy, when in fact we never really did — it just hadn’t been under enough stress to show its flaws?
Because institutional capitalism with monarch style governance is an economic system that necessarily leads to authoritarianism?
Because the libertarian value tolerance of debate is an ill founded ideology, and we actually need more intolerance (e.g., limitations on free speech)?
Because social media is not respected by the masses as the enormous medium of control that it wound up being in actuality?
…

What’s the next big realization here for mankind?

[-] toad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Americans doing regime changes, mostly

[-] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 hours ago

I mean, sure. But shouldn’t something be said about what that means for democracy? Would it be:

“Democracy only works if you don’t try regime changes in foreign states, otherwise it starts to experience a phenomenon where the democracy withers”

…?

I’m doubtful it’s that simple. If it is, then democracy seems rather unstable in its current form. All it takes is one bad leader to trigger a chain reaction toward failure? Again, I’m doubtful.

There’s got to be a bigger story here.

[-] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 hour ago

The rich people are in an exclusive club and collude without meeting because what's good for one is good for the other. They've also been a big driving force for change in the world from consumer based economic models to "supplier" based models. IE themselves.

this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026

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