A liberal democratic international order, stretching from Washington to Warsaw, is under threat. What was once the future of global rule, democracy, now appears vulnerable—restless domestically and challenged internationally. In the wake of the Cold War, liberalism appeared victorious, and Francis Fukuyama famously proclaimed the "end of history." Now, that confidence appears to be more and more fragile. As he stated that, “Liberal optimism was rooted in the assumption that liberal democracy, buoyed by market capitalism and international institutions, would expand and eventually dominate the globe.”

The conditions of the 21st century are revealing the boundaries of the liberal idealogy. Populism, cyber disinformation, and the resurgence of authoritarianism threaten democracies across the globe. Institutions once taken for granted are questioned. Even truth is becoming a negotiable notion. Historically, the United States of America has been used as a model of democratic government. The 2016 and 2020 elections were, however, marked by an overabundance of conspiracy theories and strident partisan strife.

Attacks on Democratic Institutions

In the United States, the January 6th violent attack on the Capitol was more than public violence; it was an example of the collapse of objective truth in a post-truth political era. A significant number of people still hold on to the "Big Lie," that election fraud tainted the elections, even though there are more than a hundred judicial decisions and media evidences that contradict this claim. It should be noted that this is not peculiar to the United States. It is but an example of a more general trend where emotive narratives increasingly replace evidence in democratic societies.

Rising Authoritarian Leaders

In India, the most populated democracy in the world, there is a distinct ascendancy of majoritarian nationalism (Hindutva ideology). There are some analysts holding the view that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the integrity of democratic values is facing erosion. The environment for poets and journalists is progressively becoming repressive, frequently at the cost of minority rights, and the independence of the judiciary and the freedom of the press are facing serious challenges.

Hungary is the same story, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has actively tried to erode judicial independence and media freedom, while introducing a variety of illiberal policies over the last decade. Turkey is also a strong case with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who continuously strives to impose authoritarian rule with vigor. These national developments reflect a larger global pattern of democratic decline for 18 consecutive years. As Freedom House reports.

These changes do not occur isolated; in fact, Freedom House has contended that by 2024, the world will witness an unprecedented 18-year uninterrupted record of backsliding in democracy. Importantly, prior to 2017, the increase in authoritarian governments did not undermine democratic systems to the extent of making it normal for democratic decline to be the rule as it is in the present situation. Why are these above phenomena occurring? One of the reasons is the spread of disinformation. Social media platforms such as Facebook and X(twitter) have greatly sped up the spread of misinformation to record levels.

A further reason that underpins this is the rise of authoritarianism- China and Russia are offering a model of government that is beyond liberal democratic norms. The model of authoritarianism is claiming that aspects of order, control, and state nationalism are virtues of government. Although these models of government are flawed, authoritarianism is increasingly popular among many leaders and citizens disenchanted by stagnation that is a characteristic of liberal democracies.

Institutional Responses and Public Perception

The myth propagated by Beijing that democracy is disorder-causing is gaining traction, particularly in the Global South, where the actions of Western powers have largely lost credibility. The third reason is the erosion of global institutions, including the United Nations, World Trade Organization, and International Criminal Court. These institutions have lost their legitimacy in the eyes of people. They are perceived as slow, biased, or ineffective. For instance, in Gaza, Ukraine, or Sudan, the institutions charged with upholding international norms are failing to uphold the norms. If the globalized system fails to bring justice or ensure peace, the liberal order appears extremely ineffective.

Furthermore, the loss of faith in liberal democracies is evidently taking place within the structures themselves. Voter participation in elections complies with this loss of faith in liberal democratic institutions. Placed in broader historical frameworks, polarization is found to rise significantly. Provided we take the younger generations to be the key to the future, it is obvious that their dependence on democratic values has eroded. The 2023 Pew Research poll respondents comprised an increasing percentage (Approx 59% and 74% think elected officials don’t care what people like them think.) of Millennials and Generation Z from Europe and the United States who were found to be open to non-democratic alternatives, provided such alternatives could supply efficiency and stability.

But this democratic crisis is transitory. The remedy is not despair but change. Democracies must regain trust. This begins with elevating civic education—teaching citizens critical thinking, separating fact from fiction, and how to disagree with dignity. Independent media must be fostered, especially local reporting; it connects people to day-to-day issues beyond their ideological echo chambers.

The government needs to regulate tech platforms—not to limit speech, but to impose transparency and accountability. The EU's Digital Services Act is a good start, and other nations should begin to follow suit.

Internationally, it is necessary to rebuild global cooperation. Democratic countries need to unite—not merely to counter authoritarianism but also to deal with problems that lie in the common global public sphere, such as climate change, pandemics, and inequality. These are the problems that define this century.

Conclusion

Liberal democracies need to hold themselves accountable. They have been the very champions of human rights but are oblivious to the abuse of these rights in their own country as well as globally. The Western world must follow the same democratic principles that they demand of others if they are to reclaim their image as a morally just power. The death of liberal optimism does not have to be the death of democracy. Instead, it could be the death of naive optimism and the beginning of a more humble, pragmatic, and inclusive version of liberalism, a liberalism of renewal, not triumph. For liberalism to survive the next century, it needs to shed its optimism and face the facts that will dictate a new world order.

Muhammad Salman is Graduate scholar of IR at NUML Islamabad and intern at Islamabad policy research institute, IPRI. His research areas includes International political economy, Int'l development, Chinese Politics and Asian geopolitics.

Muhammad Umar Nasir is a bachelor's student of International Relations at NUML Islamabad. He is a research intern at Asian Politico. His area of interest is the geopolitics and geo-economics of South Asia.