Democracy dies with the lies. Even that simplest form of democracy, which is that we vote on a politician or we don't and we vote on another politician depends on the truth. Because if you can lie about what you did in office or lie about what you didn't do, that sort of vertical accountability breaks down. It becomes meaningless.

Staffan Lindberg

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Staffan Lindberg is the Director of the V-Dem Institute, one of the five principal investigators of the Varieties of Democracy Project, and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. He is also a coeditor of the book Why Democracies Develop and Decline along with Michael Coppedge, Amanda B. Edgell, and Carl Henrik Knutsen.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:46
• Bright Spots for Democracy - 3:24
• Autocratization and Democratic Backsliding - 13:20
• Causes of Democratic Recession - 22:25
• Criticisms of the Report - 34:56

Key Links

Why Democracies Develop and Decline edited by Michael Coppedge, Amanda B. Edgell, Carl Henrik Knutsen, and Staffan Lindberg

Learn more about V-DEM

"A Third Wave of Autocratization is Here: What is New About it?" in Democratization by Anna Lührmann and Staffan Lindberg

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Michael Coppedge on Why Democracies Emerge, Why They Decline, and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)

Sarah Repucci from Freedom House with an Update on Freedom in the World

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