IDENTIFYING (UN)COMMON PATTERNS OF DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING

In the past decade, there has been growing alarm over the crisis of democracy worldwide. Scholars and international organizations widely agree that the trend of the third wave of democratization has reversed, and the concept of “democratic backsliding” has swiftly materialized. However, this phenomenon encompasses deteriorations in a wide range of attributes, such as civil liberties, the rule of law, the separation of powers, checks on the executive branch of government, the independence of the judiciary, and aspects related to the central pillar of democracy, which is free and fair elections. The common tendency in the vast majority of backsliding literature is for scholars to focus on one aspect of deterioration and thus consider that process as democratic backsliding. Although this focus is incontestable, this research project argues that it causes an overgeneralization of the problem which tends to overlook the state of the democratic system as a whole and the condition of other attributes of democracy. There has been much less attention given to whether deteriorations in certain aspects of democracy are occurring commensurately with the other ones. This project aims to examine democratic backsliding through mixed-method approach. Firstly, it aims to conduct a large-N quantitative analysis of the state of democracy through two dimensions: liberal and electoral. By investigating whether deteriorations in the liberal dimension (and its sub-dimensions) are accompanied by deteriorations in the electoral dimension (and vice versa), this research aims to systematically distinguish various interplays between the two dimensions. The study seeks to identify patterns of backsliding and assess whether democracies follow a common trajectory of decline, providing a comprehensive understanding of how the state of democracy is deteriorating worldwide. Secondly, this research analyzes the trajectory of democracy in Mongolia as a case study, with a particular focus on its backsliding process. Mongolia is often overlooked in both political science and comparative constitutional scholarship, despite having made a remarkable transition to democracy following its authoritarian past. For over three decades, it has maintained a democratic status under challenging conditions marked by economic crises and geopolitical pressures. However, during the last decade, the country has experienced significant shifts, with growing signs of democratic backsliding. This study evaluates that backsliding through the framework of disaggregated democratic dimensions and aims to trace the pattern and nature of erosion across them.