By Ahan S. Prakash
Democracy isn’t just wobbling, it’s facing a full blown crisis of legitimacy on a global scale. Look around, whether you’re in the US, India, or Israel, the guardrails that were supposed to keep democracy on track are getting bent and twisted. Instead of protecting ordinary people, these institutions end up reinforcing the power of entrenched elites. For decades, democracy has been pitched as freedom’s gold standard, the go to model for self rule. But if you scratch beneath the surface now, something ugly shows up: these very frameworks are being hollowed out from within. Voters get sidelined, watchdog institutions become tools for those in power, and anyone with a dissenting voice risks being silenced.
You see this happening most clearly in three places: the United States, India, Israel. Each of these countries still puts on the show, elections, courts, parliaments. They tick the boxes. But beneath the ritual, the way power moves, the stuff that really matters, starts to look more like competitive authoritarianism than real democracy. Governments use state power to redraw electoral maps, knock out opposing groups, and attack journalists or activists who ask tough questions.
Take Israel. The gap between official policy and actually upholding democratic values has never been sharper. Just recently, high ranking politicians went as far as threatening to strip citizenship from Jewish filmmakers, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. And why? Because their award winning documentary, NAZA, dared to look into military surveillance and the civilian cost of war. By labeling critical reporting as a threat to national security, the state isn’t just disagreeing, it’s making loyalty to the military a requirement for basic citizenship. Criticism becomes treason. At that point, civil liberties basically evaporate.
The United States isn’t exactly immune. The fight over how elections are run has become ground zero for political conflict. Lawmakers put up hurdles for voter registration, purge people from the rolls, and redraw legislative districts to favor their side. Big money, private lobbyists, and algorithm driven campaign machines dominate. Tons of people, often the most vulnerable, get locked out when it comes to having their voices heard. So yeah, there’s still voting, but the outcomes are shaped long before anyone sets foot in a polling station.
Beneath the rituals of elections and courts, the way power moves starts to look more like competitive authoritarianism than real democracy.
India’s decline is subtler but just as corrosive. Here, it’s the bureaucratic maze that chips away at democracy. Officials revise and purge voter lists, and it’s mostly minorities and the poorest who get axed. Instead of acting as neutral referees, regulatory bodies end up rigging the game to favor those already in power. Millions risk losing the right to vote, not because of anything they’ve done, but because the machinery’s been hijacked for partisan gain.
Why do these different countries seem to be following the same authoritarian script? The answers go back to the massive shift after the Cold War. Back then, Western market economies faced competition from the Soviet bloc. To sell the merits of democracy, and keep working people on board, governments poured money into social programs, education, healthcare, and worker protections. There was pressure to show that democratic capitalism could deliver better lives for the majority.
Once the Soviet Union collapsed, though, that pressure disappeared. Elites didn’t need to worry about keeping social safety nets or public services so much anymore. Instead, neoliberal policies took over. Welfare protections were slashed, public assets sold off, and markets unleashed on just about every sector. Political leaders no longer felt compelled to maintain broad, inclusive democracy, they just made sure capital kept flowing upward. When most people see their jobs getting shakier and their incomes flatlining, and when their calls for help go ignored, those in power realize they need to clamp down. Restrict the political process, and you can keep a lid on unrest.
When economic questions are removed from public debate, left to technocrats and insulated commissions, governments turn to other ways to build support. Cultural and religious nationalism step in as easy tools. Instead of uniting people, authorities stoke divisions. Suddenly, the real crisis, rising inequality, crumbling infrastructure, stagnating wages, gets buried under fights about identity, history, or religious boundaries. Democracy turns from a civil right into a test of loyalty. Dissent isn’t just disagreement; it’s painted as a threat to the nation itself.
The only real fix is to rebuild accountable, public-facing institutions and move beyond the empty rituals of voting.
But that’s not the end of the story. There’s pushback. Students, journalists, lawyers, ordinary citizens, they’re all starting to fight back against these trends. In places like Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, protests are growing. People aren’t just trying to protect what’s left of democracy, they’re waking up to the reality that without real oversight, the system falls apart. You hear the same message again and again: if public institutions aren’t accountable, democracy is a shell.
This crisis isn’t just an accident. It’s not a blip in an otherwise well oiled machine. It’s the fallout from economic choices that pushed public needs to the background in favor of elite interests. If most people feel shut out and unprotected, those in charge will scramble to keep power, blocking voters, silencing critics, and rigging the rules. The only real fix? Rebuild accountable, public facing institutions. Move beyond the empty rituals of voting and get back to a system that actually puts people’s needs before concentrated power. That’s how you bring democracy back from the brink.
About the Author
Ahan S. Prakash is a Geopolitical analyst and columnist covering South Asian affairs, strategic security, and international relations.