Examples of autocratic parties that rose to power after 2008 include Fidesz in Hungary, the Law and Justice Party in Poland, and the Five Star Movement in Italy. Examples of autocratic politicians that rose to power after 2008 include Bolsonaro in Brazil, Trump in the United States, and Modi in India. After each of these parties/leaders rose to power, there was a decline in the quality of their respective democracies.

Autocratic Parties and Politicians in Democracies Post-2008

Over the course of the economic crisis in Europe, support for democracy declined by 7% on average. Countries that were particularly hard-hit saw declines in support for democracy of up to 46%. By 2011, only 50% of Europeans reported being satisfied with the way democracy worked in their specific countries.


Wesleyan University

The perception that autocracies handled the 2008 financial crisis better than democracies—or at least that democracies performed poorly—is largely reinforced by the scholarly literature. Consequently, citizens’ support of democracy has declined across the world, much to the benefit of autocratic political candidates.

The Great Recession and Democracy's Decline in Popularity

Armingeon, K. & Guthmann, K. (2014). Democracy in crisis? The declining support for national democracy in European countries, 2007-2011. European Journal of Political Research, 53, 423-442. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12046

Armingeon & Guthmann (2014)

The literature on regime type and economic crisis management generally finds that democracies are more resilient than autocracies in the face of economic shocks and crises. 

Regime Type and Economic Crises

Contrary to the literature on regime type and economic crisis management, the 2008 financial crisis generally demonstrated failures on the part of democracies to counter the Great Recession.

How Democracies Handled the Great Recession

Decline in the Popularity of Democracy After 2008

The scholarly literature on autocratic regimes and their response to the Great Recession mostly focuses on China’s response to the crisis. 

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