Pese a la pandemia, el número de democracias en las Américas se mantiene igual que hace dos años. Además, la mayoría de las democracias de la región demostraron una gran resiliencia frente al efecto disruptivo de la pandemia, y los Parlamentos, los Poderes Judiciales y los medios de comunicación de la mayoría de las democracias lograron adaptarse y seguir ejerciendo sus funciones de control, aun en medio de numerosas restricciones que dificultaron su labor. 

Democracy is at risk. Its survival is endangered by a perfect storm of threats, both from within and from a rising tide of authoritarianism. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated these threats through the imposition of states of emergency, the spread of disinformation, and crackdowns on independent media and freedom of expression. The Global State of Democracy 2021 shows that more countries than ever are suffering from ‘democratic erosion’ (decline in democratic quality), including in established democracies.

Democracy is under threat and its promise needs revival. The value, viability and future of democracy are more contested now than ever before in modern history. While the past four decades have seen a remarkable expansion of democracy throughout all regions of the world, recent years have been marked by declines in the fabric of both older and younger democracies. The idea of democracy continues to mobilize people around the world, but the practice of existing democracies has disappointed and disillusioned many citizens and democracy advocates.

Is democracy really in trouble, or do recent events simply signal a temporary downward fluctuation? Are sceptics overreacting to sensational daily headlines, and losing sight of democracy’s numerous advances over the last few decades? Under what conditions is democracy resilient when challenged?