The Changing Geopolitical Landscape for Support for Democracy

• In Event: IO Institutional Design

Abstract

The geopolitical landscape for democracy support has changed during the last decade, in part due to the shifts in power from strong democratic states to rising autocratic states. I argue that this has resulted in fewer incentives for states to promote democracy. To support my argument, I examine rhetoric at the annual UN General Debate (GD). Using structural topic modeling and sentiment analyses, I show that the patterns of how states discuss democracy have changed. Specifically, there has been a recent marked decline in support for democracy at the GD. Furthermore, this decline is also matched by declines in support for human rights at the GD, particularly after 2012. Many states that had previously prioritized democracy and human rights at the GD no longer do so. To supplement this analysis, I analyze votes on pro-democratic and pro-human rights measures at the UNGA and show similar declines in support. While the extent to which democracy is in crisis continues to be debated, it is clear that democracy and human rights in international politics have been prioritized less in recent years, suggesting that a growing number of states may be unlikely to serve as a bulwark against backsliding and repression.

Author

• Jennie Barker, University of California-Berkeley