Democracy in the 21st Century:Exploring Contemporary Trends

In the aftermath of the Cold War, a wave of democratisation, coined by American political scientist Samuel Huntington as the ‘Third Wave’ swept across the world. The wave refers to the transition of several non-democratic setups to democratic ones, promising a future where democratic ideals would grow. However, the present century has witnessed geopolitical events and developments that have impacted the ideals of governance worldwide. The paper aims to investigate contemporary trends of democracy prevalent in the world. It uses prominent democracy indices and reports like the Varieties of Democracy (V Dem); Freedom in the World; Democracy Index; Bertelsmann Transformation Index and the Global State of Democracy report, to have better insights about the Third Wave of Democracy. It also highlights the major factors that are seemingly responsible for its existing status. The findings of the paper reveal that while democracy is seen as an ideal form of governance by many, two decades into the 21st Century, a large proportion of the world is struggling with the third wave in one form or the other. While several internal factors can trigger democratic decline, recurring coup attempts and the rise of far-right populism are accelerating the decline of the Third Wave of democratisation at the global level.