Across Europe, illiberals and authoritarians are putting democracy at risk. These challengers use two strategies to gain support. First, they claim to be democratically legitimate. Second, they polarize societies to create a false, binary choice. In order to stop them, democrats need to counter both.
Let’s start with the good news. Despite this mounting challenge, democracy in Europe is going strong. In most European countries, democratic institutions remain stable. Europe has the highest regional average level of liberal democracy in the world, according to data from the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem).
However, in four out of 30 European countries – Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland – illiberals have succeeded in weakening liberal democratic institutions significantly. Moreover, illiberal and authoritarian-leaning parties are on the rise in almost all European countries, threatening democratic institutions and norms.
