Democracy Playbook 2025 | Brookings
Research
Democracy Playbook 2025
7 Pillars to Defend Democracy in 2025 and Beyond
Norman Eisen and Jonathan Katz
January 17, 2025
- The U.S. faces immediate threats to its democracy, including rising autocratic tendencies, polarized governance, and weakened democratic norms.
The Democracy Playbook 2025 identifies seven foundational pillars—such as protecting elections and rule of law, combating corruption, and countering disinformation—as essential to safeguarding democracy. - This report provides actionable steps for democratic actors in the U.S. and globally to strengthen democratic institutions and resist illiberal forces.
People participate in a peaceful memorial for George Floyd at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn, New York, NY on June 4, 2020. Christopher Lazzaro / Alive Coverage / Sipa USA
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By Norman Eisen and Jonathan Katz
Editor’s note: The following text is the executive summary from “Democracy Playbook 2025: 7 Pillars to Defend Democracy in 2025 and Beyond.” Download the full report here.
7 Pillars to Defend Democracy—The Case of the U.S.
This third edition of the Democracy Playbook updates its predecessor 20191 and 20212 publications of evidence-based best practices for reversing democratic backsliding. We have added the research and developments of the eventful past three years—and have done so with an eye toward what is likely to be a challenging 2025. Our aim as before is to help citizens and stakeholders reclaim good governance, transparency, and the rule of law, and strengthen democratic resilience in the face of dangerous autocrats. Recent events in the United States, South Korea, Romania, France, Germany, Georgia, and elsewhere around the world remind us of the precarious challenge democratic actors face to either preserve or rebuild democracy and freedoms in the year ahead.3 The far-reaching consequences of a decades-long run of global authoritarian resurgence and democratic decay (albeit with fits and starts) make renewing, reenergizing, and advancing liberal democracy all the more necessary.
In the introduction to the 2021 edition of the Democracy Playbook,4 we focused on democracy principles for global stakeholders. We did so with an eye toward the U.S. launching the Summit for Democracy process in which Brookings (including authors of the Playbook) played a leading role on behalf of civil society as cohort co-leads.5 In contrast to the optimism of that moment, the situation that presents itself today in the U.S. raises heightened concerns about the resilience of democracy at home and abroad.
Experts across the ideological spectrum agree that the U.S. at the federal level constitutes a backsliding democracy,6 although there are differing views on how fast and far that slide might go, including at the state level where there is also erosion.7 The health of U.S. democracy is of critical importance within and beyond its borders.8
Accordingly, for the introduction to this 2025 refresh of the Playbook, the editors focus on the following question: What does the scholarship and practice of democracy promotion globally teach us about this critical juncture in the U.S.? From the extensive body of newly updated research in the Playbook that follows, we, in this introductory essay, identify seven foundational pillars. Each is essential to the continuity of democratic governance and to protect freedoms and rights in the U.S. Should these pillars collapse, autocratic and illiberal forces have their own playbook and are prepared to rebuild the American political system in their own fashion, fundamentally reshaping the foundations of power and governance. Because all of this has profound international implications, we also consider those, including the need for others to take on some of the democracy promotion work the U.S. has historically done. This introduction and this Playbook draw upon lessons learned, examples, and action-oriented steps Americans and democracy stakeholders everywhere can take to reinforce democracy, shore up its core elements to withstand another and more dangerous incoming stress test, and seize the opportunity to strengthen U.S. democratic resilience.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: Democracy Playbook 2025 | Brookings
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