#Democratizers
LightNews LightNews
roryhanna.bsky.social
I was delighted to see my article published in the journal German History this month. If you are curious about early West German political culture, student activism and quirky protest methods, do take a look! doi.org/10.1093/gerh...
Early Democratizers? West German Students’ Campaigns for Participation in University Governance during the Adenauer Era*
Abstract. Between 1957 and 1961, West German student activists campaigned for greater involvement in university administration. This article explains what
doi.org
October 22, 2026 at 2:06 PM
nishikibot.bsky.social
15 years in the depredator made you a fucking democratizers!
September 10, 2026 at 12:00 AM
maartenpvink.bsky.social
I think @vdeminstitute.bsky.social is doing absolutely terrific work. But classifying Portugal 🇵🇹 as an 'Electoral Democracy' (ED), rather than liberal democracy, and putting it on the watchlist of countries 'very close to becoming autocratizers', frankly, makes no sense.
Portugal classified as ED (Electoral Democracy) Democracy Report 2026 Watchlist y 8 countries are on the Watchlist as potential autocratizers. y 3 countries are on the Watchlist as potential democratizers. The Democracy Report Watchlist initiative identifies countries that the international community could decide to pay special attention. These are countries exhibiting clear portents of becoming autocra- tizers or democratizers – they have come at least three-quarters of the way (0.075) towards the ERT threshold of 0.1 on the EDI to be officially in an episode. Such countries are marked with dark red and dark blue shaded areas in Figure A1. The eight countries that are very close to becoming autocratizers are: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Namibia, Portugal, Russia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Vanuatu. Three of the eight countries are new on the Watchlist this year: Bulgaria, Portugal, and Vanuatu. Of them, Vanuatu experienced the second-largest one-year drop in 2025 (after the USA). Sierra Leone and Sudan were listed as autocratizers last year and are only marginally below the threshold now. Cyprus, Namibia, and Russia were on the Watchlist already last year (see Democracy Report 2025). Three countries that are bordering to becoming democratizers are: Chad, Gabon, and South Korea. All three countries are poten- tial U-turns. Of those, South Korea is the closest one to qualify as a democratizer after featuring as an autocratizer only one year ago. Chad and Gabon have re-installed elections and civilian-led govern- ments after military coups in 2021 and 2023, respectively. The Watchlist additionally identifies so-called “near misses” – coun- tries that are at least halfway towards becoming autocratizers or democ- ratizers (changes are between 0.05 and 0.1 on the EDI scale from 0 to 1). “Near miss” autocratizers are marked with the red shaded area and “near miss” democratizers with the blue shaded area (see Figure A1). There are 24 “near misses” of autocratization and eight “near misses” of democratization, in 2025. 
March 18, 2026 at 1:26 PM
resiliencesci.bsky.social
world is strongly tilted towards autocratization

"The figure compares each country’s level of democracy in 2025 with the level it had at the start of its current episode; the size of each country’s bubble is proportional to its population size"

www.v-dem.net/documents/75...
Figure 12 visualizes the heavy tilting of the world towards autocratization. The figure compares each country’s level of democracy in 2025 with the level it had at the start of its current episode; the size of each country’s bubble is proportional to its population size.Countries above the diagonal line are the 18 democratizers, countries below are the 44 autocratizers. Among the democratizers (above the diagonal line), Brazil is by farthe largest one in terms of population size, followed by Thailand andPoland. All three are U-Turns, meaning that they are recovering from autocratization of the last decade, and restoring their initial levels of democracy. Other countries undergoing democratization, and especially “stand-alone” democratizers, tend to be relatively small countries in terms of population. For comparison, the share of the world population living in all “stand-alone” democratizers is only 0.005% –about 40 million people. In contrast, many of the autocratizers (below the diagonal line)are countries with large populations, such as India, Indonesia,Mexico, Pakistan, the UK, and the USA. Many of these countries are influential regional or global powers, who can influence the future of their regions and shape international politics.
March 17, 2026 at 2:30 PM
tee-tee.bsky.social
We were all victims of this. Try being a Humanities PhD in early 2000s. Digital spaces were the new democratizers. Derrida & deconstruction & the breaking of binaries. Wish we would have focused on what happens when truth becomes obsolete. I was all about there being no absolute truth …. in theory
June 28, 2025 at 8:03 PM
peterhowitt.bsky.social
Watchlist Autocratizers: Slovakia, Slovenia, and Namibia show significant declines. Slovakia's rapid decline is due to Prime Minister Fico's actions undermining democratic institutions.
Watchlist Democratizers: Czechia, Guatemala, and Malaysia.
Figure 23 plots countries that are identified as potential autocratizers (red) or potential democratizers (blue), as of 2024. Light red and light blue areas mark all “near miss” cases, whereas dark red and dark blue areas mark countries that enter the Democracy Report “Watchlist”. “Near-misses” are identified by using the standard ERT methodology but with a lower threshold (i.e., 0.05 instead of 0.1 on the EDI), while “Watchlist” is reserved for countries that are above 0.075 threshold. Changes below 0.05 on the EDI (grey area) are treated as noise in data.
March 13, 2025 at 10:08 AM
peterhowitt.bsky.social
Figure 17 and Figure 18 showcase democratizing countries, categorised as 'stand-alone democratizers' (e.g., Fiji, Seychelles) and 'U-turn democratizers' (countries where autocratization was followed by democratisation, e.g., Poland, Brazil).
Figure 17 shows the LDI scores and confidence intervals at the start of democratization (in black). These are technically ERT “pre-episode” years, meaning that the following year was the first year recording an improvement. The LDI score at the pre-episode year is thus showing the level of democracy a country had before democratization. The values for 2024 (blue) reveal the total magnitude of change. The ERT uses the Electoral Democracy Index (EDI) for identifying episodes. For consistency with the rest of the analyses in the Democracy Report, we display countries’ respective values on the LDI. A country may change more on the EDI than on the LDI, which explains cases with overlapping confidence intervals (they do not overlap on the EDI) Figure 18 plots the LDI values for the nine stand-alone democratizing countries. For Timor-Leste, the first years are not shown. For technical details, see note to Figure 17.
March 13, 2025 at 9:58 AM
peterhowitt.bsky.social
Some rays of light: Although "Half of all autocratizing governments increasingly spread disinformation. Conversely, successful democratizers often reduce disinformation substantially. Recent U-turns enabled by substantial decreases in Brazil, Poland, and Zambia are examples."
Figure 4 left y-axis indicates the score for the disinformation and polarization indicators. Higher score for disinformation, polarization, and political parties hate speech indicate higher levels of disinformation/polarization, respectively. The right y-axis represents the scale for the LDI.
March 13, 2025 at 9:53 AM
marikamikiashvili.bsky.social
I'm sure that once we get rid of this chokehold that is the Georgian Dream regime, we'll again be exemplary reformers and democratizers, just like we were in the 2000s.

The Russian regime does not reflect the Georgian public, they are a most successful Trojan horse operation.
July 15, 2025 at 1:18 PM
jessezorr.bsky.social
Eh not necessarily - as a middle class urbanite decent chance you’d end up a Radical, Argentina’s OG democratizers turned loser middle-class urban more anti-populist party
July 31, 2025 at 1:59 AM
euroconcern.bsky.social
Only 18 countries are democratizing (Brazil and Poland stand out as the largest democratizers), whereas 44 countries are now autocratizing - this includes European countries that have now joined the autocratizers list: Croatia, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the UK.
March 18, 2026 at 7:05 PM
compatibilism.bsky.social
Just another example of how AI companies are not de facto democratizers of knowledge. Instead, the rich get richer, the powerful reach wider audiences, and the trustworthiness of information declines. All while ‘the good guys’ can argue that sure the water use is bad but the tools are “insane.” 5/5
February 19, 2025 at 3:56 PM
africacenter.bsky.social
There was an overall positive democratic trend in Africa during roughly 2000–2015. Term limits became normalized and democratizers were finding some success across the continent.

This changed with a string of term limit evasions, then a string of coups.

Read more:
africacenter.org/in-focus/dem...
andreashoev.bsky.social Andreas Hövermann @andreashoev.bsky.social · Feb 15
The decline in the overall index score was driven by reversals in every region of the world except for western Europe, whose average index score improved by the smallest margin possible. The biggest regressions occurred in Latin America, the Caribbean & the Middle East and North Africa.

4/
February 20, 2024 at 8:46 PM
vdeminstitute.bsky.social
#DemocracyReport2026 When a country starts to democratize, what aspects of democracy improve? And conversely, when a country becomes less democratic, which aspects decline?
The figures show the top 20 indicators that improve in the 18 democratizers, and decline in the 44 autocratizers.
1(4)
#Polisky
March 24, 2026 at 1:25 PM
vdeminstitute.bsky.social
The #DR2025 finds that the 3 most improving indicators belong to the #FreedomOfExpression Index.
The second most important component in many of the ongoing democratizers seems to be liberal aspects that strengthen #RuleOfLaw and #ExecutiveOversight.

#PoliSciSky #PolSciData #PoliticalScience
2(4)
March 21, 2025 at 2:04 PM
vdeminstitute.bsky.social
#DR2025: #Democratizers and #Autocratizers
In 2024, 64 countries are in a process of regime transformation, using the Episodes of Regime Transformation (ERT) methodology. The figure shows autocratizing countries (red) and democratizing (blue). Gray=no significant change.
#polisky #PolSciData
🧵1(3)
March 14, 2025 at 11:20 AM
sequentialkady.bsky.social
Yes, they are wonderful democratizers of access to information and culture.
February 4, 2026 at 11:15 PM
emdashreed.bsky.social
“Klaxon” a #poem by Emily Rose Reed
Warning Keep alert on the roads Structures have gained sentience And are disregarding crosswalks Their inherent need to have people inside them Has been subjugated inside their boundless hunger And there is no escape The House Hunters have been called Do not panic Do not panic Stay inside No wait not there Ah well ... Nevertheless. Warning There is a restaurant imploding. There is a restaurant pulling in its neighbors. There is a restaurant driving the prices of gold and baby food up. There is a restaurant at the heart of the world and it is on fire. There is a restaurant waiting. There is a restaurant dining, driving in, and diving. There is a restaurant that has imploded. There is a restaurant in your heart. There is a restaurant on fire in your heart. There was a restaurant imploding. Ah well ... Nevertheless Warning There is blood on the lens. Vision impeded, this operative needs to be aborted. Words are missing, redacted redacted redacted, replicated error message. Fissile failure, fuel leak. Fracturing memory core update. Up up up up upload incomplete. Please contact system administration. Please contact management. Please contact contract conflate con con con. Blood on the walls blood on the walls blood on the walls blood on the walls blood on the Ah well... Nevertheless Warning There is nothing to be done We've tried to ignore the problem but it turns out Ignorance isn't bliss It's just ignorance Heads turned aside just provides a bigger target in the neck Tranquilizers emptied and Apologizers readied and Democratizers dead eyed and Voting it on through "Count em up boys So long as we believe really hard and clap when we're supposed to Nothing will ever need to change By the way could you spare some Daddy's real sick and he needs his $pecial Medicine$" Ah well... Nevertheless
January 30, 2026 at 3:19 AM
jonpz.bsky.social
Democratizers of Insight
On organic intellectuals, the struggle for counter-hegemony, and the social function of counter-hegemonic intellectuals
open.substack.com
June 23, 2026 at 2:16 AM
telospress.com
NEW VIDEO: The video of the fourth webinar in TPPI's "China Keywords" series is now posted. Eric Hendriks of the Danube Institute talks with David Moser about the 6-part TV miniseries "River Elegy" and China's tradition of scathing cultural self-criticism.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0W4...
China Keywords: Webinar 4: River Elegy
In the fourth webinar in the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute's “China Keywords” series, Eric Hendriks talks with David Moser about China's tradition of unsparing, sometimes hyperbolic, cultural self-criticism. This is the tradition of the democratizers of the May Fourth Movement, who rejected Confucian hierarchy; of the Red Guards, who, during Mao's Cultural Revolution, sought to obliterate China's traditional cultures and authority structures by force; and of the documentary series River Elegy (1988), which in the run-up to the 1989 protests claimed that conservatism and isolationism had dried up China's cultural vitality. David Moser is a Beijing-based linguist, academic, and public intellectual, who watched the six-part CCTV miniseries River Elegy in his dorm room at Peking University in June 1988 and witnessed it "hit academic circles like an atomic bomb." What was River Elegy about? What were its ideals? What is left of River Elegy's legacy and the broader tradition of cultural self-criticism in contemporary China? The Telos-Paul Piccone Institute is pleased to present this webinar in cooperation with the Danube Institute. For more information about TPPI's China Initiative, visit our website at https://www.telosinstitute.net/china-initiative
www.youtube.com
August 2, 2024 at 6:15 PM