Defining Characteristics of Democracy in the 21st Century
This report offers a brief overview of the literature on the defining characteristics of democracy in the 21st century
Abstract
This report offers a brief overview of the literature on the defining characteristics of democracy in the 21st century. This report seeks to map out a range of conceptual approaches to understanding democracy, evidence on emerging trends in democratisation, and challenges to realising democracy in its varied forms. The report begins with a discussion on definitions of democracy that have emerged in recent decades (Section 2), highlighting a range of qualifiers that are widely used to differentiate and analyse different democratic regime types. Section 3 summarises trends in key indicators of democracy from widely cited observers – The Economist Intelligence Unit and the V-Dem Institute - and recent trends in public opinion towards democracy, according to World Values and Pew Centre surveys. Section 4 gives a very brief overview of three leading challenges to democracy discussed widely in the literature – gender inequality; the role of media and social media; and declining quality of elections, freedom of expression and civic space.
This report was prepared for the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and its partners in support of pro-poor programmes
Citation
Lenhardt, A. (2021). Defining characteristics of democracy in the 21st century. K4D Helpdesk Report 986. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. DOI: 10.19088/K4D.2021.064