AUTHORITARIAN CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRACIES: MECHANISMS OF UNDERMINING DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The article analyzes the authoritarian challenge to contemporary democracies through the lens of the resilience of democratic institutions. Drawing on classical and recent approaches to democracy, authoritarianism, and hybrid regimes, it refines the conceptual toolkit and justifies the use of the categories of democratic erosion and democratic backsliding. The article demonstrates that the authoritarian challenge has both external and internal dimensions: from deliberate interference by authoritarian states in electoral processes, the information sphere, and economic security to anti-democratic practices of electorally legitimized elites who dismantle checks and balances, undermine the rule of law, and shrink the space for civil liberties. Special attention is paid to the conditions under which democratic equilibrium can be maintained in times of crisis. The multidimensional nature of democracy’s resilience is revealed, combining institutional, structural, and agency-related dimensions and depending on the balance among the subregimes of electoral competition, citizen participation, the rule of law, and effective accountability of those in power. The article proposes an analytical framework that makes it possible to trace how the interplay between external authoritarian influences and internal anti-democratic tendencies leads to the gradual transformation of consolidated democracies into defective or hybrid regimes without the formal dismantling of democratic institutions. It concludes that the key to strengthening the resilience of democracies lies not only in improving institutional design but also in enhancing the capacity of civil society and international organizations to act as effective safeguards against authoritarian usurpation of power.