Two new research projects will tackle the issue of democratic resilience, in different ways. One project will be looking at the factors that determine if a country manages to halt or even turnaround the process of autocratization. The other one investigates the circumstances under which voters stop acting as watchdogs against violations of democratic principles, and what characterizes voters who show the strongest willingness to defend democratic norms and principles.
We congratulate the V-Dem researchers involved in the two projects that received funding from the Swedish Research Council on November 20, 2025.
The Projects
Explaining Democratic Resilience: Uncovering the key factors explaining why some democracies manage to not only halt but also turnaround processes of autocratization
This project aims to advance the knowledge on democratic resilience by focusing on thus far understudied episodes of “U-turns” – the cases in which a democracy, exposed to autocratization, manages to halt it and to dramatically reverse autocratic dynamics.
The project asks how, when, and why some democracies halt and reverse autocratization, while others erode beyond repair and develops a theory explaining which institutional mechanisms, structural factors, and actors’ strategies increase democracies’ chances to halt autocratization and to rebound in an episode of U-turn.
The results of the project will enhance our understanding of democratic resilience toward autocratization, and yield insights into which combination of factors redound to democracy’s benefit during autocratization, with implications also for policy-practitioners.
Researchers: V-Dem Institute director Staffan I Lindberg and V-Dem Institute postdoctoral research fellow Marina Nord, University of Gothenburg. The project will run for three years.
Strengthening Democratic Resilience in Flawed Democracies
The goal of this project is to shed new light on voters’ acquiescence to the subversion of democracy by authoritarian-minded leaders in flawed democracies from Southeastern and Eastern Europe.
The project will investigate the circumstances under which democratically-minded voters stop acting as watchdogs against violations of democratic principles; as well as identify of the characteristics of voters who show the strongest willingness to defend democratic norms and principles, and thirdly, in linking these novel empirical findings to the literature on societal resilience to democratic backsliding.
Identifying one of democracies’ key vulnerabilities - why voters forgive undemocratic behavior - is crucial to address threats to democracy. In addition, by identifying individual characteristics linked to a stronger willingness to defend democracy, the project will help design policies that enhance democratic resilience.
Researchers: V-Dem Principal Investigator Jan Teorell, and Per Andersson, both from Stockholm University, with Filip Milacic (Central European University) and Milan Svolik (Yale University). The project will run for four years.
We look forward to the coming results from both projects!