Democratic Resilience | Toda Peace Institute

January 31, 2026

After Degradation: A Roadmap for U.S. Democratic Repair

Jordan Ryan

This report assesses democratic degradation in the United States as President Trump's second term marks its first anniversary and proposes a framework for recovery grounded in the sequencing logic of post-conflict peacebuilding. Because established frameworks…

January 23, 2026

Electoral Integrity and the 2026 United States Midterm Elections

Jordan Ryan

This policy brief examines four interconnected threats to electoral integrity: the dismantling of US federal election security infrastructure, the Department of Justice campaign to obtain state voter files, the erosion of redistricting norms through mid-decade…

January 8, 2026

Reclaiming Attention: From Digital Conflict to Democratic Dialogue

Jordan Ryan

This policy brief poses the question: which human capacities does digital polarisation erode, and why does their erosion matter for democratic life? It references a comprehensive governance architecture developed by Toda Peace Institute, Lisa Schirch’s…

July 21, 2025

From Backsliding to Recalibration? Trump 2.0 and Democracy in the Philippines

Aries A. Arugay

This report analyses the three-fold impact of the Trump 2.0 presidency on Philippine domestic politics, economic sectors, and foreign policy. It argues that Trump’s restoration could reinforce authoritarian tendencies in the Philippines, undermine its economic…

July 14, 2025

Democracy in the 21st Century: Fragility and Resilience

Apolline Foedit

This report summarizes the key discussions and outcomes of the 2025 annual meeting of the Toda Peace Institute’s Global Challenges to Democracy Working Group, held in Geneva on 5–6 June in collaboration with the Centre…

July 4, 2025

Democratic Resilience in the United States: Containing Trump’s Threat to Democracy?

Robert R. Kaufman

This report provides a comparative perspective on two crucial questions. First, what are the possibilities that the United States might devolve into what political scientists have called a ‘competitive authoritarian regime’—one in which the façade…

April 14, 2025

Amerika: MAGA, China, Imperial Decline, Democracy

John Keane

This report examines the current rivalries between the USA and China—two entangled but differently structured empires—which are triggering mental confusions, public anxieties and political misunderstandings and fears. Getting the measure of these world-shaping dynamics should…

August 30, 2023

What is Democratic Resilience and How Can We Strengthen It?

Wolfgang Merkel

This Policy Brief explores the concept of resilience which has risen to become a key concept in science and society. As a scientific concept, resilience is, on the one hand, an analytical category that seeks…

July 28, 2026

The Quiet Erosion and Resilience of New Zealand’s Democracy

Kevin Clements, Ria Shibata

This report argues that New Zealand’s reputation as one of the world's most stable social democracies increasingly obscures a quieter democratic erosion, evident across four domains: collapsing institutional trust, the structural collapse of the fourth…

July 4, 2025

Democratic Resilience in the United States: Containing Trump’s Threat to Democracy?

Robert R. Kaufman

August 19, 2026

From Memes to Movements: The Gen Z Accountability Crusade and Democratic Resilience in Southeast Asia

Aries A. Arugay

This paper examines how a younger digitally native generation is redefining political participation and democratic accountability across Southeast Asia’s fragile democracies. Building on a comparative study of youth movements in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand,…

September 4, 2026

Defending Democracy in the Face of 21st Century Challenges

Leo Shanahan

This report summarizes the key discussions and outcomes of a meeting of the Toda Peace Institute’s Global Challenges to Democracy Working Group held from 18–20 June 2026. This year’s conference titled “Defending Democracy in the…

September 7, 2026

Feedback Loops and Bridging Democratic Resilience From Above and From Below: The Case of Tunisia, 2011-2021

Larbi Sadiki

The paper begins with a discussion of the scholarship on democratic resilience and on transformative collective resilience, building up to a conceptualization of ‘democratic resilience from below’. It then turns to the empirical analysis of…

August 25, 2026

Thoughts on Decolonising Democracy

John Keane

This paper examines the disturbing and potentially ruinous effects of our crumbling global order on the spirit and substance of democracy, not only within the heartlands of the declining American empire but also in Canada,…

September 1, 2026

The Spirit of Democracy

John Keane

This paper proposes a new understanding of the collectively shared, ‘deeper than words’ beliefs that nurture people’s sense of what counts as democracy and why they consider it to be a desirable way of life…

September 13, 2026

What is Democratic Resilience?

Wolfgang Merkel

This paper aims to transform the simple term ‘democratic resilience’ into a more complex analytical concept. Studies of democratic resilience can be seen as a fifth and most recent phase in democratization studies, which deal…

September 15, 2026

Hollow Parties in India’s Cockroach-Eaten Democracy

Debasish Roy Chowdhury

This paper discusses important lessons for democratic decay held by India’s political parties. A Gen Z movement has brought Modi to heel but cannot slow India’s plunge into illiberalism under his watch thanks to the…

October 18, 2026

‘Dirty Hands’: Should the AfD Be Banned?

Wolfgang Merkel

This paper discusses the moral dilemma facing German politicians and intellectuals today: which is the most ethical or responsible way to act for German decision makers facing the question of whether to ban the right-wing…

September 24, 2026

The Empty Bench: Hungary After Orbán, and the Test of Democratic Recovery

Gábor Harangozó

This paper draws on Wolfgang Merkel’s framework of democratic resilience to argue that Hungary’s transition is best understood not as a triumph but as a paradox. In April 2026 Hungary did what much of Europe…