Bon Appétit

Two elderly ladies sit in the restaurant of a mountain resort, scowling at their plates.

“The food here is terrible,” says the first.

“Yes,” replies the second, “and such small portions too.”

With this joke, Woody Allen illustrated his view on life in Annie Hall. The older I get, the less funny it seems. I was reminded of it recently while moderating a panel organized by the European Commission on strengthening democracy in the 21st century at the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg.

To kick off the discussion, a representative of the international organization IDEA—which focuses on democracy and elections—presented their latest report on the state of democracy in the world.

“You’ll be surprised,” he said enthusiastically before starting. And we were. According to IDEA’s data-driven analysis of global freedom, democracy has never been better off. The world is becoming more democratic. The number of democratic countries is constantly rising. Everything is super-duper, declared the enthusiastic IDEAlist.

And then, almost as an afterthought, he acknowledged a small problem: while democracy is spreading, its quality is deteriorating.

“The portions are large,” the first lady might say.

“Yes,” the second would reply gloomily, “but the food keeps getting worse.”

IDEA’s findings are only seemingly surprising. They reflect a concept of democracy shaped three decades ago, when Fukuyama declared the “end of history.” After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was widely assumed that all ideological battles were over, that liberal democracy had triumphed by a landslide, and all that remained was to set up the institutional infrastructure in places where it hadn’t existed—then we’d all live happily ever after in peace and democracy.

Democracy as IKEA: a box of parts, a screwdriver, and instructions.

Today it’s clear we celebrated too soon. Even if, as IDEA asserts, the number of countries that have established the bare minimum of democratic infrastructure—constitutions, laws, party pluralism, nominally independent judiciaries, free media, and so on—is increasing, the final result is a major disappointment for many.

Some explain this as inexperience. Decades later, many still blame the “growing pains” of new democracies. “Look at the UK,” they say. “It took them centuries to build what they have.” Just be patient, and we’ll have democracy like the British.

Sadly, it’s starting to seem like we already do.

The UK is a cautionary tale: even democracies with centuries-old institutions are not immune to illiberal populism. Institutions don’t function in a vacuum; they require a supportive democratic environment—not just parliaments, laws, and courts, but politics and politicians committed to democratic values, and a critical mass of citizens who support, understand, and believe in democracy. Each in their own way, with differing views—since democracy can’t survive groupthink—but grounded in shared civilizational values.

The institutional checklist IDEA uses gives an incomplete picture. If instead of ticking boxes, we ask people how they feel about the system they live in, the results are far more worrying. Most public opinion research, even in mature democracies, shows growing dissatisfaction, cynicism, and distrust toward the system—and a rising openness to authoritarian alternatives.

The trends among young people are especially alarming. The 2016 study The Danger of Deconsolidation, by Yascha Mounk (Harvard) and Roberto Stefan Foa (Melbourne), found that only one-third of Dutch youth believe living in a democracy is very important. Two-thirds don’t care. Youth. In the Netherlands.

Of course, democracy needs institutions. IDEA is right about that. Historical detours “in the name of the people” have brought too much suffering. Freedom can’t exist without a pluralist parliament, democratically accountable executive, independent judiciary, free speech, and civil society.

But institutions are a necessary, not sufficient, condition for a functioning democracy. It also requires a democratic environment, a minimal standard of political culture and integrity among politicians, and citizens who trust institutions and see democracy as a system that reflects and respects their economic, social, and security expectations—and responds accordingly.

We won’t achieve this overnight or by simply preaching that liberal democracy is great and that everyone who’s skeptical is a primitive fool manipulated by populists.

We won’t save liberal democracy or its institutions without addressing the real suffering and injustice that have pushed large segments of the population into the arms of manipulative, nationalist, illiberal, intolerant, and increasingly authoritarian populism.

Liberal democracy has been undermined by its own flirtation with the callous selfishness of economic neoliberalism.

Democracy cannot survive if people have no hope or realistic prospects for the future—for themselves and their children. Hope for a job. Hope for housing. For a livable environment.

We must invest in education, understanding, knowledge, skills, and opportunities that allow people—especially the young, but not only them—to engage with society and influence it.

We need a clear and firm commitment to the values that underpin and sustain democracy. A political and civic engagement for a progressive society built on capacity, creativity, openness, and solidarity—one whose success, effectiveness, stability, and security stem from these traits.

Democracy requires tolerance, humanism, and empathy. A society where compassion is reserved only for “our own” is doomed to fail. Without these core civilizational values, there is no freedom. For anyone. Not even for “us.”

What remains is zero-sum social Darwinism, where you only win by beating someone else—and in the end, we all lose.

Democracy demands integrity, competence, and accountability from its politics. We can’t defend the values of a democratic, progressive, civilized society with PR polish alone—we need responsibility, consistency, and the courage to stand up against ideas, discourses, and policies that seek political power by dismantling democratic and humanistic values.

Without that responsibility and courage, there is no democratic culture, no democratic environment, no functioning democracy. We risk being left with hollowed-out institutions, vulnerable to those who will treat them like a pig treats a bellows—abusing them for their own gain.

When we reach that point, even IDEA throws up its hands.

Not only is the food worse—

the portions are getting smaller, too.