According to the 2024 Varieties of Democracy report, there are now 91 autocracies and 88 democracies worldwide. Even more striking, 72 percent of the world’s population—three out of four people—live under autocratic rule, a level not seen since the mid-1980s. The decline of democracy isn’t caused by coups or foreign enemies, but by elected leaders who undermine institutions, weaken checks and balances, and restrict civil liberties.

Tamara Ehs argues that democracy is struggling because societies are exhausted by overlapping crises—economic stagnation, inflation, climate change, demographic shifts, and migration. In such times, citizens grow impatient with the slow processes of democracy and become tempted by “strongmen” promising quick fixes.

To counter this, Ehs emphasizes the idea of democratic resilience: a society’s ability to withstand crises without slipping into autocracy. It involves strengthening courts, media, and civil society, but also focusing on the local level, where democracy often finds its most dynamic expression. Cities are the new front line—places like Budapest, which remains a liberal enclave within an illiberal state, or the Pact of Free Cities, where mayors from Central Europe cooperate to defend European values and the rule of law.

Cities can’t save democracy alone, but they can show that it works—through open government, participatory budgeting, and climate-focused local action. Ehs calls this combination of city democracy and city diplomacy the next frontier of democratic renewal, where municipalities learn from one another to stay democratic even when their nations falter.

Resilient democracies are those that adapt without abandoning their principles. Rather than waiting to rebuild after backsliding, Ehs concludes, societies must strengthen democratic culture now—because prevention is far easier than recovery.