Democracy under Pressure: Polarization and Repression Are Increasing Worldwide

Restrictions on free speech, unfair elections and populist hunger for power – it is by no means just autocrats who have been tightening the screw of repression. Governments in democracies have also increasingly been trying to govern with a hard hand. And social division is deeper than it has been for a long time. The current Transformation Index BTI published in March by the Bertelsmann Foundation shows what is behind this development, and which countries have been particularly affected. Key finding is that the quality of democracy, market economy and governance has fallen to its lowest level in twelve years on a worldwide average.

Read more and download report on the website of the bertelsmann foundation