Democracy Watchdog Says U.S. 'No Longer a Democracy,' Warns of Rapid 'Autocratization'

A leading global monitor of democratic governance says the United States, under the Trump administration, has lost its status as a liberal democracy and is undergoing a rapid process of "autocratization."

The report by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at the University of Gothenburg concluded that democratic institutions in the United States have weakened at an unprecedented pace, placing the country at its lowest level of democratic performance since 1965. Researchers say the shift has occurred faster than similar democratic declines observed in countries such as Hungary, Turkey and Serbia.

"Our data on the USA goes back to 1789. What we're seeing now is the most severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country," said Staffan Lindberg, founder of the V-Dem Institute and director of the report, to The Guardian.

The report, titled Unravelling the Democratic Era?, states that the United States has, for the first time in more than half a century, lost its classification as a "liberal democracy." Instead, researchers say the country is experiencing what they describe as rapid "autocratization," driven largely by a concentration of power in the executive branch.

"For Orbán in Hungary it took about four years, for Vučić in Serbia eight years, and for Erdoğan in Turkey and Modi in India about 10 years to accomplish the suppression of democratic institutions that Trump has achieved in only one year," Lindberg stated.

According to the findings, Congress has been increasingly marginalized, weakening the system of checks and balances between branches of government. During the president's first year in office, the administration issued 225 executive orders, while the Republican-controlled Congress passed 49 laws, most of them described by the researchers as minor amendments to existing legislation.

"We've seen a very fast concentration of power in the executive wing. The legislative branch has practically abdicated its powers to the president. It no longer functions as a check on executive power," Lindberg said.

The findings place the United States within a broader global trend. V-Dem estimates that 41% of the world's population—about 3.4 billion people—now live in countries where democracy is deteriorating. "The world has never before seen as many countries autocratising at the same time," Lindberg said.

The institute's analysis is based on dozens of indicators measuring democratic performance, including election quality, freedom of expression, media independence and the rule of law, drawing on data collected by thousands of researchers worldwide.

Despite the report's conclusions, researchers note that competitive elections in the United States are still being held and the electoral system remains intact, though they warn that continued institutional erosion could place that stability at risk.