Since 2008, every 15th of September the world observes the International Day of Democracy, an annual celebration established by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through Resolution 62/7. In 2025, there seems to be little to celebrate in terms of the consolidation of ‘new or restored democracies’, the mission the Resolution sought to support. Instead of the restoration of democracies or the establishment of new ones, we are witnessing their alarming deterioration in an increasingly polarized international scene.

Events that deepen divisions within society have become recurrent. Last week, for instance, the killing of a conservative political figure in the United States captured the spotlight as a development that not only directly responds to democratic deterioration but also exacerbates it with grave consequences. What is perceived like a defeat to one side is celebrated as a victory by the other, obscuring the level of harm democracy as a whole suffers.  

The fact that elections still take place does not mean much anymore if political offerings are plagued with anti-democratic ideals. The year 2024, for example, holds a historical record as the year where the most elections took place worldwide, covering over half of the global population. Yet, 2024 ironically saw record-breaking levels of democratic deterioration, as 83% of countries around the world registered substantial declines in their scores compared to the previous year, with the main driver of decline being the inadequate functioning of government.

While it is certain that whether a State is more or less democratic depends on how we choose to analyze data and indicators, all analyses point to an undeniable cause for concern. Studies such as Democracy Report 2025 by Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) and the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index demonstrate the perils of this regression. Virtually everywhere, democratic States (whether full, flawed or hybrid) perform better in their electoral aspect than other aspects like transparency or respect for civil rights.

An ideal democracy, however, would never be void of adherence to the rule of law, equality, participation, respect for human rights, representation, and pluralism. Even if “there is no single model of democracy”, as the UNGA stated in its Resolution, it would be useless to understand democracy as separate from these multiple pillars without which it cannot function properly. An attack, for instance, on academic freedom by defunding higher education institutions would, therefore, constitute an unarguable attack on democracy itself because it is an inseparable core component of a democratic society. Conviction of the opposite only creates a deluded fantasy of a democracy and freedom that do not exist.

Especially in the Trump 2.0 era, there are notable patterns that elected officials follow to stay on trend. Some common occurrences include the over-centralization of power, the undermining of the integrity of democratic institutions, the threatening of the judiciary, and the blatant disregard for human rights. In the United States, Donald Trump’s administration has implemented policies to weaken or destroy accountability mechanisms, creating a practical imbalance between the branches of government where the executive becomes the most powerful. Additionally, his administration’s views regarding human rights are visible in their attempt to silence opinions contrary to his own or to exclude large groups from participation in society, all masked by the false pretense that this will make ‘America great again’.

Similarly, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele is known for having circumvented the constitutional order to retain power. Despite the prohibition on consecutive re-election in El Salvador’s Constitution, the Supreme Court (composed of judges he had appointed) ruled he could run again for presidency as long as he was not President in the immediate months preceding the election. Bukele’s populist approach led him to victory again in 2024, along with popular admiration for the well-recorded violations of human rights within a state of emergency that has prompted the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of individuals without any regard for their habeas corpus and other rights.

More recently, in July 2025, El Salvador’s parliament approved a constitutional modification that permits the indefinite re-election of presidents, an action that directly defies the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ (IACtHR) advise in its Advisory Opinion 28/21. To the naked eye, the constitutional change could just be another political move to which El Salvador is entitled given the principle of state sovereignty. Indeed, some celebrate (even with fireworks) this development as a necessary step in El Salvador’s history.

However, a closer look reveals an abundance of negative implications, especially for El Salvador itself. As in the view of the IACtHR, re-election without term limits hinders the exercise of rights in a healthy democracy where power rotates periodically and minorities have a real possibility to have a say in government. A system that allows for the possibility of individual to hold power indefinitely, by contrast, jeopardizes representativeness and the separation of powers.

An impactful effect of these trends is that new leaders get away with justifying their anti-democratic tendencies with the simple fact that they are popularly elected in democratic processes. Such justification reduces democracy to a meaningless one-moment act, beginning when voters enter the polls and ending when they exit. Stripping democracy of its integral meaning has become a common practice among leaders, evident not only in their national and foreign policy, but also in trivial actions such as when Bukele deems himself ‘the world’s coolest dictator’.

What, then, should we celebrate today? Probably not much, if we believe in a wholistic democracy that respects the rule of law, equality, human rights, and judicial independence. Rather than celebrate, it is time we engage in a reflection exercise that allows us to look beyond the façade of a ‘thin’ democracy that destroys itself from the inside out. We are where we are, and it is arguably not entirely our fault, but it is definitely our responsibility to avoid further deterioration.

By contrast, those who believe that the Trumpian form of governance is democratic have a lot to celebrate. Perhaps unknowingly, they celebrate the erosion of the freedoms they so highly value. They celebrate the disappearance of the respect for the most basic human rights, without which democracy, ironically, cannot survive. They celebrate the treatment of ‘the other’ as the enemy of the State.

In reality, the biggest enemy of democracy is forgetting what democracy is for. Such forgetfulness is triggered by the unfortunate misconception that the protection of human rights is subject to majority rule and blindly believing that the erosion of checks and balances is beneficial.

If we applaud current leaders for strengthening executive powers while subverting the rule of law, or for taking a ‘tough’ stance against ‘the other’ –migrants, women, children, queer people, people with disabilities, indigenous people, or people deprived of liberty–, it means we are content with the effects of our governments’ destructive and discriminatory policies. And if we are ready to accept these developments as the new normal, then it is only logical to conclude we are celebrating the pure decay of democracy.