The process of deconsolidation now taking place across most liberal democracies is a very serious warning sign, analysts Roberto Foa and Yascha Mounk write for the National Endowment for Democracy’s Journal of Democracy:
But neither fate nor destiny decrees that democracy will falter. For now, the window for political agency remains open. Whether democratic deconsolidation will one day be seen as the beginning of the end for liberal democracy depends in good part on the ability of democracy’s defenders to heed the warning and to mount a coherent response.
Public opinion data proves that recent political earthquakes are not simply the result of chance or bad timing, Foa adds in Foreign Policy:
Instead, they are the outcome of deepening fissures in the long-running project of globalization. Over several decades, that project has produced significant shifts in public opinion around the world, including ascendant national pride, antipathy to migrants, and growing skepticism about the legitimacy and effectiveness of international institutions.
