Democracy

Abstract

In this article, the authors trace the historical development of democracy around the world over the last two centuries, demonstrating a significant increase in the number of democracies and people living in them. However, they note that while the world has become more democratic overall, there are still large disparities in the degree of democratic rights enjoyed by individuals across countries, within democracies and non-democracies, and even within individual democracies. The authors also highlight a recent decline in democracy, with an increasing number of countries becoming less democratic. They point out that while the world has seen such declines before, people have successfully reversed these trends in the past, and they express hope that the current democratic backsliding can also be reversed. – AI-generated abstract.