Decline of Democracy in the World and Its Causes

According to statistics and reports of international organizations, the progress of democracy has been stopped for years and the stagnation, decline and regression of democracy in the world has accelerated. In this article, we tried to answer this question in an explanatory way that why democracy declined in the world? According to the research results, it can be said, changing citizens' attitudes about democracy, mistrust of elected officials, abuse of power, the success of authoritarian models of governance, globalization, neo-liberalism and growing inequality, the Internet and virtual space have weakened and declined democracy. In addition to the decline of democracy in developing countries, the problems of advanced countries such as the increase in living costs, despair of improving living conditions, increasing inequality and polarization of society have led to an increase in populism and the gaining of power by extreme right parties. These parties are against democratic procedures, equality, rights of minorities and immigrants. As a result, it should be said that authoritarianism is increasing and authoritarian leaders in the West are gaining power. Democracy became popular and universal at a time when Western civilization was at the peak of its power and influence. The increasing power of countries like China shows the success of non-democratic models. The West and America in particular are no longer ideal and the developing countries see their ideal somewhere other than the West. In such a situation, the shine of democracy is declining even in the West.