Report warns U.S. democratic decline weakens global rule of law

The United States has become the most prominent driver of a worldwide erosion in the rule of law, with key measures of American democracy falling to their lowest levels in 50 years, according to a new report by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

The Stockholm-based intergovernmental organization said in its annual Global State of Democracy report that nearly half of the indicators used to assess U.S. democracy are now at or near record lows in a dataset running from 1975 to 2025. The report describes the U.S. as the “most prominent example and accelerator” of a broader democratic decline, warning that the effects are spreading beyond its borders.

“President Donald Trump quickly amassed power in the executive branch and wielded it to further a narrow set of personal goals and pursue retaliation against perceived enemies,” the report said. “In that environment, which is marked by constricted space for both public expression and institutional checks on power, resistance is increasingly unsafe.”

International IDEA said the U.S. recorded seven statistically significant declines between 2020 and 2025, including in access to justice, economic equality, effective parliament, freedom of expression, press freedom, free political parties and judicial independence. Except for free political parties, those measures are now at their lowest levels in the history of the organization’s dataset. Talking Points Memo, citing the report, said the United States saw no corresponding advances, apart from basic welfare gains attributed solely to recovery from the pandemic.

The report said the decline has affected both domestic governance and the international system. “The results have been far-reaching, undermining the rule of law domestically and internationally and testing long-standing alliances and multilateral cooperation,” it said.

International IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora said the U.S. trajectory carries global consequences. “For decades, the rule of law both domestically and in the international order has underpinned the resilience of democracies,” he said. “Now, the rapid decline of democracy in the USA is weakening judicial independence and fragmenting the international system — threatening democracy around the world.”

Globally, the organization found that 57% of countries declined in at least one key indicator of democratic performance between 2020 and 2025. The Guardian reported that 2025 was the 11th consecutive year in which more countries declined than improved democratically, the longest such downturn since International IDEA’s records began. Around the world, judicial independence has fallen to a 36-year low, while credible elections are at their lowest level in 30 years. Rule of law was the weakest area of democracy in 2025, with 71 countries, or 41% of those assessed, ranked as low-performing.

Casas-Zamora linked democratic erosion to rising insecurity. “The key message from our research is that investing in democracy should be at the heart of any country’s security strategy,” he told The Guardian. The report cited data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program showing 65 violent conflicts in 2025, the most recorded since that dataset began in 1946, including a record eight conflicts between states.

The report pointed to Brazil and Serbia as examples of U.S. influence abroad. It said the aftermath of Brazil’s 2022 election, when Jair Bolsonaro sought to remain in power after losing and supporters later stormed government buildings, “echoed” the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. election. In Serbia, officials cited Trump’s claims of mismanagement at USAID to justify raids on civil society organizations.

International IDEA also cited pressure on U.S. institutions, including cuts to funding for NPR, PBS and the U.S. Agency for Global Media; lawsuits against media organizations including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC; and federal funding actions involving Harvard and Columbia. It described the Trump administration’s use of the immigration system as the “starkest example” of declining access to justice, citing 137 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

The report did note positive developments, including consultation with civil society groups in Australia, the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship in Syria, and youth-led protests that unseated long-serving leaders in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. But it said broad democratic recovery remains difficult as civic space narrows worldwide.