The Decline of Democratic Norms in the United States

Has democracy reached its peak?

ABSTRACT

The following essay titled ‘Has Democracy Reached Its Peak?’ is especially relevant in today's world, where political apathy and executive overreach have become increasingly noticeable. This essay will focus on the United States as a global superpower and will focus on political participation, forbearance of the executive, mutual toleration of competing parties as measures of democratic health to establish whether a peak has been reached. Overall, democracy has reached its peak due to the decline in mutual toleration of competing parties and executive forbearance in the US. This essay has explored works such as How Democracies Die by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, various websites and documentaries which in turn has been used as evidence to analyse certain trends over time.

INTRODUCTION

 Democracy is defined as “rule by the people”, having three key features - political participation of citizens, forbearance of the politicians and mutual toleration of competing parties. (Shapiro 2026; Day, 2022; Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018, 8). A healthy democracy will include all features. A democracy that has reached its peak will experience a decline from a high point in two or more of them. In exploring whether democracy has reached its peak, this essay will focus specifically on the United States of America (USA) - a leading global democracy, with a democracy index score of 7.85 (World Population Review 2026). The essay will explore each feature of democracy in turn, analysing how strongly it perseveres in the USA today, and then conclude that democracy has reached its peak.

Section 1: Political Participation

Political participation refers to any activity a citizen engages in to influence their government (Study.com n.d). This section will look at three forms of political participation: voting, public debate, and peaceful protest. First, electoral turnout can be used as a measure of voting activity, and it is clear that this has fluctuated. Following the 2008 financial crisis, turnout increased, followed by a slight decrease and then a rise to 62.8% in 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic began. (The American Presidency Project n.d.). With recent 2024 election data showing a decrease, the fluctuation appears to be continuous throughout America’s history. More broadly, this means there is no clear ‘decline’ or ‘increase’ in electoral engagement because the data has fluctuated continuously. This therefore suggests voting has remained relatively strong with no drastic change, demonstrating that political participation has not yet reached a peak from which it has significantly declined.

However, it is also crucial to consider public debate and peaceful protests (Day 2022). Unlike voting, these activities don’t require participating individuals to comply with self-identification requirements, meaning they allow us to gain a broader understanding of political participation.

Engagement with the September 2024 presidential debate can be used as a measure of participation in public debate. Although the audience of 67.1 million represented a significant 31% increase from the June debate, it remained below the record-high audience of 73.1 million of the 2020 debate (Sullivan 2024). This suggests that interest has slightly decreased but remained relatively high, showing signs of healthy engagement.

As for peaceful protests, the second-largest protest in US history was the ‘No Kings’ in 2026, with an estimated attendance of eight million people (Johnston, 2026). The issue emphasised was “rejection of executive branch overreach” and the “2026 Iran war” (Johnston, 2026). Therefore, because the second largest protest occurred recently, following another ‘No Kings’ protest in 2025, and the 2017 Women’s March also being in the top twelve largest recorded protests, this highlights the recent importance and prominence of peaceful protest (Johnston, 2026). This is a healthy sign of a democracy from a literal stance because people are exercising their right to protest. However, the rejection of executive branch overreach also implies that citizens are dissatisfied with the democratic system of check and balances, which may not be captured by figures alone". More recently, more than 300 ‘ICE OUT’ protests were planned, showing how people are still engaged politically, although more than 30 people were arrested at one protest (Cineas 2026; Venkatraman 2026). Thus, critics could argue this indicates people’s ability to participate politically is being threatened, suggesting democracy may be declining from its high point. Nevertheless, participation in peaceful protest has increased, which, by this measure, indicates that democracy has not reached its peak.

Considering all three forms of political participation, engagement has fluctuated historically, while participation in peaceful protest has especially risen. Therefore, the evidence does not suggest that political participation has passed its peak. By this measure, US democracy remains resilient.

Section 2: Forbearance of Politicians

 Forbearance requires politicians to exercise restraint in deploying their institutional prerogatives (Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018, 8). For instance, the president should avoid executive overreach. This section will examine the forbearance of the two most recent presidents - Joe Biden and Donald Trump. To establish a ‘peak’ there must be a high level of forbearance, suggesting democracy is viable, then a decrease, demonstrating democracy is in decline and has reached its ‘peak’.  In 2021, Biden issued over two dozen executive orders during his first week in office, which was reported to be a faster rate than any other president (National Constitution Center 2021). Whilst some can view his actions as fulfilling the function of the executive which “consists of the authority to enforce laws”, it can be argued he did not hesitate to deploy his institutional prerogatives (Library of Congress n.d). During his final weeks of presidency, he pardoned nearly 2,500 people, which was described as the “biggest act of clemency in presidential history” (Ulrich 2025). Both Democrats and Republicans, one figure being James Comer, condemned this, describing Biden as “as the most corrupt president in US history” (Ulrich 2025). Professor Ulrich therefore concluded that Biden's use of the pardon power was likely to be seen as more self-serving as it breaks “democratic norms”, constituting an abuse of power (Ulrich 2025). Thus, Biden has shown an increase in executive overreach, signalling a lack of forbearance, which shows  a slight decline in democracy.

Now,  consider Trump. Following Biden’s lack of forbearance, Trump pardoned approximately 1,600 people charged in connection with the January 6 attack (FitzGerald 2025).  Executive aggrandisement has been shown in other ways too – “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration interfered with the health reports” (Diamond 2020). However, checks and balances have prevailed, when it came to administrative law because the Trump administration lost nearly 80% of the time (Williamson 2023). More recently, the Supreme Court ruled Trump’s tariffs unlawful (Jordan 2026). However, there was a lack of sufficient accountability for Trump’s executive overreach on an international scale, because the capture of Nicolás Maduro was a direct breach of international law. Despite the judicial branch holding him somewhat accountable, checks and balances have not prevented such executive overreach. Trump also attacked Iran without the approval of Congress, although the Constitution establishes the president as commander-in-chief while granting Congress the power to declare war (Lee and Schonfeld, 2026). This means the constitutional power imbalances of checks and balances, has resulted in repeated executive aggrandisement under both Trump or Biden. Despite Biden technically having more presidential pardons, the impact of Trump's actions could be interpreted as more significant, because they create long-term effects on the global economy and international relations.

The continuous trend of a persistent lack of presidential forbearance has been prominent, with recent examples showing presidents are overreaching, suggesting democratic standards are not being entirely upheld. Judging by recent presidential terms, democratic mechanisms in the US appear to have weakened, suggesting democracy is currently in decline, meaning it has passed its ‘peak’.

Section 3: Mutual Toleration of Competing Parties

Mutual toleration indicates the understanding that competing parties accept one another as legitimate rivals (Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018 :p8). To understand whether this is in decline, political polarisation can be used as a measure. Mutual toleration was relatively high in the past – Republican President George W. Bush did not question the patriotism of his rivals after 9/11 (Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018, 155). However, Fox News used this opportunity to imply the Democrats lacked patriotism (Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018, 155). This indicates there was a slight shift away from mutual toleration, although this came from the media and not directly from the political parties. Thus, we can establish this period as the ‘peak’. The 2008 presidential election showed an increase in political polarisation, implying a decrease in mutual toleration. Republican Congressman Steve King described Obama as “anti-American” whilst Sarah Palin stated he was “palling around with terrorists”, implying he was not a “real American”. (Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018, 157-158). This means Republicans essentially refused to accept Obama as a legitimate rival, suggesting the first signs of decline in mutual toleration. More crucially, such rhetoric was accepted by many Republican voters and it had “reached into the upper ranks of the Republican Party” (Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018, 161). This suggests the rejection of mutual toleration was enacted in ways it had not before, indicating the preliminary breakages of democratic norms.  Such political polarisation has increased further today – January 6 Capitol rioters refused to accept Biden as the legitimate winner. Trump has also repeatedly claimed the 2020 vote was “rigged” (Halpert, 2024).

This suggests that a stronger divide between Republicans and Democrats has persisted in recent years, demonstrating a decline in mutual toleration.

Section 4: Conclusion

 In conclusion, although political participation has remained high and relatively stable, forbearance of politicians and mutual toleration of competing parties have been in decline. With two critical pillars of democracy largely unfulfilled, this essay concludes that US democracy has passed its peak and is currently declining. Democracy may be succeeding elsewhere, but in the USA - a major global power and prime example of democracy worldwide – its democratic decline could affect the rest of the world. Therefore, democracy has peaked overall.

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Article by Maria Bykova

Edited by Ceylin Deniz G