Global Democracy is on the Ballot

By Ishaan Tharoor
The Washington Post
January 3, 2024

"More than 60 countries, with some 4 billion people, are set to stage
national elections in 2024. That means roughly half the planet could go to
the polls in what could be the greatest rolling spectacle of democracy in
human history.

"We might not see this number of elections matched until 2048, when
the world's political landscape could look considerably different. The
'third wave' of democracy  - the steady global expansion of democratic governments that surged through the end of the Cold War - has ebbed over the past decade. Elections are still staged, but the underlying political culture seems to be shifting worldwide...

"In society after society -- U.S., Portugal, Austria, Germany, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Venezuela -- illiberal values and politicians who embrace them are gaining ground...

"According to Freedom House, a Washington think tank that monitors the health of democracies, global freedom declined for the 17th consecutive year in 2023...

"'We're electing illiberal leaders democratically,' Maria Ressa, a prominent journalist and Nobel laureate from the Philippines... 'We will know whether democracy lives or dies by the end of 2024.'"

About Heart of a Nation

Heart of a Nation is working to empower emerging American, Israeli and Palestinian changemakers to improve their political cultures.

אנחנו מכנסים הוגים מובילים, פעילים חברתיים, ומחוללי שינוי לעתיד, אמריקאים, ישראלים ופלסטינאים, המחויבים לשיפור החברות שלהם.

نحن أمريكيون وإسرائيليون وفلسطينيون نبني ونكوّن روابط من أجل التعلم والتفكير والمشاركة معًا حتى نشجع الحلول التقدمية بشأن القضايا التي تهمنا جميعًا.