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View all search resultsThe making or breaking of democracy
An international group focusing on safeguarding our freedoms and rights, supported by dozens of Nobel laureates, shines a light of hope against the shadow of democratic backsliding that is falling over human societies across the globe.
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An activist holds a poster with an image of Muhammad Farhan Hamid, a protester who went missing in late August during the string of anti-government protests in Jakarta, during a vigil on Sept. 30, 2025, in Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta. (Antara/Fauzan)
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wenty democratic countries from the Global North and South, including Brazil, Chile, Norway and Spain, came together on Sept. 24 at the United Nations not just to reaffirm their commitment to democracy, but to develop an agenda which would sustain and enrich it.
The membership of this group, Democracia Siempre (Democracy always), has increased enormously since it first met a year ago. The group’s growth reflects its members’ recognition that democratic backsliding is gathering pace around the world. This is particularly true in the country that has often claimed to be the oldest and strongest democracy: the United States, where Donald Trump has waged a sustained attack on the constitutional order since returning to the White House in January.
Both within countries and internationally, the rule of law is being trampled, leading to rampant corruption, violations of basic human rights and due process and systematic erosion of institutions. Long-standing safeguards for our liberties and well-being are being dismantled before our eyes, with academic, press and other freedoms under attack.
In these dark times, Democracia Siempre is a ray of hope. Its members remain committed to defending democracy and the rule of law, setting an example for the timorous who have been cowed by Trump’s bullying. They have made it clear that national sovereignty and democracy are not something to be traded away. They refuse to follow the path of Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
As an economist who has studied why we have far higher living standards and longer lives today than 250 years ago, I understand the importance of Enlightenment values and the role of science in enabling us to understand the world around us. The unprecedented material progress we have achieved in the modern age stems from our commitment to reason and freedom.
Enlightenment thinkers taught us that we can design institutions to coordinate individual actions, facilitate cooperation and make our societies work better. This matters, because humans are social beings. We have always been able to do far more working together than alone, and in our highly urbanized, globally integrated society, we have no choice but to cooperate.
Also, among the critical institutions that we inherited from the Enlightenment are those that enable us to ascertain and assess the truth, without which neither our economy nor our democracy can function well.
