This January, the GLO project held a two-day event at the University of Chicago, examining “the international dynamics of democratic backsliding”. The workshop welcomed scholars from different career stages and a variety of fields, including political science, international relations, sociology, law, history and economics, to facilitate a truly interdisciplinary and wide-ranging interrogation of the phenomenon of democratic backsliding both in the twenty-first century and in some of its earlier manifestations. The Chicago Center on Democracy provided an ideal setting for these discussions, thanks to the support of its Faculty Director Susan Stokes (who opened the event), Postdoctoral Scholar Simón Ballesteros (who skilfully guided participants through the program), Operations Director Kevin Kromash and Outreach Coordinator Abby Feingold. This blog post, which has been prepared with the support of GLO team member Matthew Robertshaw, provides a brief summary; the full workshop program is featured further below.
Anna Meyerrose (Arizona State) gave the opening keynote, based on her recently published book Eroding Democracy from the Outside In (Oxford University Press, 2025). She described processes by which international organizations unintentionally provoke democratic backsliding . Prof. Meyerrose argued that “policy delegation” to international organizations curtails the “domestic policy space” within member states, limiting their capacity for substantive debates. Using examples mainly from the European Union, she illustrated how this can set the stage for political discourses based around “valence issues” (i.e. identity-based issues) rather than a healthy climate of discourse. She also described how international organizations tend to relate to member states through the intermediary of the executive, which can also have the unintended consequence of helping to centralize rule through an autocratic leader. She went on to highlight how “illiberal democracies” are becoming an unreliable bloc in the context of international institutions, which threatens to reinforce processes of democratic backsliding.
The issue of “Great Power” influence on democratic backsliding emerged as a common thread throughout the presentations and discussions. From a historical perspective, Michael Holm (Boston) described the opposition of American conservatives to building global democracy in the 1940s. With a focus on recent years, Oded Haklai (Queen’s) examined how symbolic support from the United States has, in different ways, bolstered autocratizing leaders in Turkey and Israel. Benjamin Yoel (MSU/Johns Hopkins) considered the ambivalent influence of Great Power endorsements on opposition leaders. In some cases, endorsements can benefit democratization, but there is also a risk that incumbents can weaponize such endorsements and portray opposition parties as puppets of foreign powers. Andrew Boutton (Central Florida) and his team noted a similar degree of ambivalence in their research on the correlations between U.S. military aid and democratization in the Global South. Meanwhile, WanTing Lee (Arizona State) discussed the role of Chinese finance in the Global South. These and other papers made it clear that at different points in time, the policies and actions of “Great Powers” play a critical role in supporting or undermining democracy around the world.
In the twenty-first century, this global dynamic has been transformed by democratic backsliding in the West. As Massimo Morelli (Bocconi) illustrated in his paper, the fragmentation of the Global North has accelerated with the alliance between Big Tech and protectionist governments in developed nations, undermining the ability of historically democratic nations to act collectively toward global democracy. As historically democratic nations backslide, it complicates the global landscape in a variety of unexpected ways, as Samara Shaz (Chicago) explored in a paper on the relationship between democracy and nuclear deterrence.
Other panelists focused on the internal factors leading to democratic backsliding, though these were never fully detached from international realities. This dimension was central to the papers in the second workshop panel, which was framed around illiberalism and populism, presenters considered these ideologies in three different regions. Christian Bailey (Purchase College, SUNY) looked at the way the German AfD, drawing on its right-wing international networks, adopted climate-skeptic rhetoric in Germany as a reaction to international obligations. The party thus shifted debates to the right, prompting centrist parties to emulate their strategies. In a paper co-authored with Ryan E. Carlin. Rodolfo Sarsfield (IE University) considered political polarization (or grieta, “the crack”) in Argentina, disentangling affective from ideological polarization, and discussing its role in the rise of Javier Milei. Finally, Gessica de Freitas (Notre Dame) moved the discussion north to Central America, and proposed the term “illiberal majoritarianism” to denote the form anti-liberal democracy prevalent in the region whereby elections are seen as a stamp of approval on unchecked executive power.
Several other panelists also focused on the internal dimensions of democratic backsliding in past and present. Joshua Hill (Ohio) provided a historical case study, examining the slow decay of democratic values in early republican China through the life of the civil servant Wang Shao’ao. Atiya Singh (Chicago) examined the failure of the radical left to entrench a democratic tradition in Pakistan’s early history. Jennie Barker (Berkeley) investigated the detrimental effect of anti-NGO legislation on human rights and global governance, citing case studies from Rwanda and Georgia. And Danielle Lucksted (Stony Brook) presented her work on the weaponization of collective memory and legal systems by autocratizing regimes in various states.
Though most of the panellists took the current backsliding trajectory as their focus, several also considered efforts to stem the flow. Semuhi Sinanoglu (German Institute of Development and Sustainability), drawing from his work on EU aid to Turkey, shared his surprising discovery that humanitarian aid, when presented explicitly as self-interested, has the potential to weaken support for autocratic regimes and increase trust in international donors. Oren Samet (Stanford) looked at opposition diplomacy, whereby opposition leaders from weak democracies seek various types of support from foreign nations, which can bolster their legitimacy (and the legitimacy of their democratizing efforts) at home. At the same time, he noted that this strategy entails numerous risks and can also be used by anti-democratic opposition leaders, such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. Anat Thon-Ashkenazy (Bar-Ilan University and Center for Values and Democratic Institutions at the Israel Democracy Institute), finally, revealed how historic women’s networks provide a template for anti-authoritarian mobilization at the municipal, national and international level.
Each panel was chaired by a GLO team member who also served as a discussant. Panelists presented their work, after which the chairs/discussants offered comments and connections before opening a question-and-answer period. This format facilitated stimulating discussions to the benefit of the panelists in their work, as well as to the conference attendees and the GLO project. Although the papers varied greatly in terms of their methodologies, as well as their geographical and chronological focus, the workshop successfully fostered interdisciplinary dialogue and provided participants with a more nuanced understanding of the international and domestic mechanisms through which democratic backsliding unfolds and can be resisted.
WORKSHOP PROGRAM
Opening:
Prof. Susan Stokes (Chicago Center on Democracy – University of Chicago)
Prof. Daniel Laqua (Northumbria University – GLO Principal Investigator).
Keynote talk — Prof. Anna M. Meyerrose (Arizona State University) – International Organizations and Democratic Backsliding
Panel 1 — Great Powers and Democratic Backsliding
WanTing Lee (Arizona State University) — Authoritarian Leverage and Democratic Backsliding: The Role of External Finance in Developing Countries
Oded Haklai (Queen’s University) — The Trump Effect on Global Autocratization: Theory and Evidence from Israel and Turkey
Coauthors: Evren Balta (Ozyegin University) and Andrew O’Donohue (Harvard University)
Benjamin Yoel (MSU/Johns Hopkins) — “International Pressure and Public Support for Opposition to Democratic Backsliding
Chair/Discussant: Simón Ballesteros (University of Chicago)
Panel 2 — Illiberalism, Populism, and Democratic Backsliding
Christian Bailey (Purchase College, SUNY) — Democracy and the Ungreening of the German Public Sphere: The AfD’s Climate Politics in International Context
Rodolfo Sarsfield (IE University) — The Microfoundations of Democratic Backsliding Ideological and Affective Polarization in Argentina
Gessica de Freitas (University of Notre Dame) — Deeming the Undemocratic Democratic: How Support for “Illiberal Majoritarianism” Shapes Understandings of Democracy in Latin America
Coauthor: Abby Córdova (University of Notre Dame)
Chair/Discussant: Susan Stokes (University of Chicago)
Panel 3 — Aid, NGOs, and Democratic Backsliding
Jennie Barker (University of California, Berkeley) — From Repression to Redirection: How NGO Restrictions Reshape International Human Rights Norms and Governance
Coauthor: Suparna Chaudhry (Lewis and Clark College)
Semuhi Sinanoglu (German Institute of Development and Sustainability) — Strategic Humanitarian Aid, Trust in Europe, and Support for Authoritarianism
Chair/Discussant: Dan Gorman (University of Waterloo)
Day 1 Closing Words
Panel 4 — International Networks and the Erosion of Democracy
Anat Thon-Ashkenazy (Bar-Ilan University and Center for Values and Democratic Institutions at the Israel Democracy Institute) — International Feminist Networks in the Global Struggle Against Democratic Backsliding
Coauthor: Ruth Halperin-Kaddari (Bar-Ilan University)
Massimo Morelli (Bocconi University) — The New Mercantilist Geo-Political Order: Big Tech Capitalists and Populist Governments Determine Political Fragmentation in the Global North
Chair/Discussant: Anne-Isabelle Richard (Universiteit Leiden)
Panel 5 — Credibility, Deterrence, and Resistance in Times of Democratic Backsliding
Andrew Boutton (University of Central Florida) — U.S. Military Assistance and Democratic Backsliding: Deterrence or Destabilization?
Coauthor: Bailey Sellers (University of Central Florida)
Samara Shaz (University of Chicago) — Regime Change and Credibility: Implications of Democratic Backsliding on Deterrence
Oren Samet (Stanford University) — Challenging Autocrats Abroad: Opposition Parties on the International Stage
Chair/Discussant: Richard Huzzey (Durham University)
Panel 6 — International Left-Wing Organizations: Perspectives from Pakistan and China
Atiya Singh (University of Chicago) — From Left-Nationalism to Authoritarianism: The Creation of Pakistan Reconsidered
Joshua Hill (Ohio University) — Democratic Backsliding in the Chinese Republic: A Biographical Approach
Chair/Discussant: Gordon Barrett (Northumbria University)
Panel 7 — Ideas, Memory, and International Order
Michael Holm (Boston University) — The Demise of Vision: American Conservatives and the End of the One World Dream, 1943-1950
Danielle Lucksted (Stony Brook University) — Smoke and Mirrors: Weaponizing Law and Memory in a Rules-Based International Order
Chair/Discussant: Daniel Laqua (Northumbria University)
Concluding Comments by the Organizers