Event: Democracy Silenced as Autocracy Expands: New Data from V-Dem, March 18

Democracy Silenced as Autocracy Expands: New Data from V-Dem

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm EST

In-Person Event

Elliott School of International Affairs

1957 E St NW | Washington, DC 20052

Room 505 | 5th Floor

This event is on record and open to the media.

The level of democracy in the world is in rapid decline, so much so that we can now talk about being brought back to around 1985. The number of countries undergoing autocratization is at record levels, 45 at the same time. Meanwhile, less than 1% of the world’s population live in countries that are democratizing. The 2024 “year of elections” was portrayed by observers as a “make or break” year for democracy. On balance, it seems to have more broken democracy than rejuvenated it. In this talk, Professor Staffan I. Lindberg, Director of the V-Dem Institute, presents the latest trends in democracy and autocracy around the world based on a just-released new wave of V-Dem data and this year’s V-Dem Democracy Report 2025.

Speaker

Staffan I. Lindberg is Professor and Director of the V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg; PI of Varieties of Democracy; Wallenberg Academy Fellow alumni; co-author of Varieties of Democracy (CUP 2020), Why Democracies Develop and Decline (CUP 2022), and other books as well as over 70 scientific articles and numerous reports, policy briefs, and think-pieces. He has extensive experience as a consultant on development and democracy and as an advisor to international organizations, ministries, and state authorities. Lindberg is the principal author of the annual Democracy Report out of the V-Dem Institute.

Moderator

Michael K. Miller is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. His research focuses on democratization, democratic survival, and autocratic elections and parties, and among his many publications is the book Shock to the System: Coups, Elections, and War on the Road to Democratization (Princeton, 2021). He is currently working on a book project on how autocracies determine their emigration policies and how this emigration influences democratization and civil conflict.

The Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at GW condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine and calls for the restoration of Ukraine's territorial sovereignty.

The Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES)

Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

1957 E Street, NW / Suite 412 / Washington, DC 20052

Tel (202) 994-6340 / Fax (202) 994-5436 / Email ieresgwu@gwu.edu

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