It is no secret that American democracy is in crisis. From the 2020 flood of actions and disinformation that culminated in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, to the repeated threats to weaponize the rule of law and fire civil servants to replace them with loyalists, we are clearly in a renewed moment of democracy crisis. We are in danger of losing our rights and freedoms unless we act boldly and swiftly. Unfortunately, too many are sleepwalking through our present moment and not understanding or doing anything about this threat to America.
Fortunately, political science research and the lived experience of other backsliding democracies — and how they reversed course — offer solutions. Our organization, the Brookings Institution, conceptualized and published the original Marshall Plan. One of its main goals was to secure democracy in Europe against autocratic threats after World War II. That legacy inspired us and our colleagues to formulate a new Marshall Plan to meet this dire moment: the Democracy Playbook.
Perhaps most important of these steps is that American elections and their outcomes must be protected.
In this document, we survey the political science data and current events landscape, pull tactics and lessons learned from global democracies — both those that are backsliding and those holding strong. Out of all that effort emerged a set of specific steps and recommendations, including seven pillars to save democracy. These pillars can be a guide for pro-democracy actors in the U.S. to prevent backsliding and, when possible, go on the offensive to strengthen democratic institutions. We pull from scholarship and practice to capture the lived experiences that are sometimes overlooked by engaging with political scientists, government officials, activists and practitioners. And we use the examples of Poland, Brazil and the Czech Republic, all of which successfully ousted their undemocratic regimes.
Perhaps most important of these steps is that American elections and their outcomes must be protected. That is because free, fair and transparent elections are the way out of backsliding. But that system has been pressured, as is happening right now in a state Supreme Court election in North Carolina, where the losing candidate is currently contesting to overturn his electoral loss by citing baseless allegations of voter fraud.
Would anyone be surprised if we see moves to undermine the bedrock of our democracy this year in Virginia and New Jersey’s gubernatorial races? Or in the critical races in 2026 to determine control of Congress and other midterm-year contests that will shape how American elections are adjudicated and our nation governed going forward? Will elections continue to be free, fair and transparent, like the one that delivered Donald Trump to the White House? Or will future American elections mirror the facades of “electoral autocracy” like in Hungary?
Equally important to preserving democracy is vigorous action to protect the rule of law and guard against the dangerous erosion of checks and balances. Our research shows that the path to autocracy is paved with examples of abuse of legalism, prosecutorial and judicial capture and weaponization of the state. Using the government as a cudgel to go after political opponents is never acceptable in a thriving democracy — look at how state power is bluntly wielded against citizens in Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
When undemocratic candidates gain power, sometimes through elections, there must be a fail-safe that protects against autocracy: the law. We highlight the current threat environment, including to the U.S. judiciary and its independence. Even conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who has joined numerous deeply troubling opinions, has nevertheless echoed these concerns. The American democratic framework is built to bend but not break under bouts of irresponsible governance — with critical checks and balances by way of constitutional norms that leverage courts, legislatures, civil society and media to establish anti-autocracy guardrails. But it will be tested as never before.
Protecting our democracy does not stop there. The forces that support autocracy feast on corruption and efforts to dim the lights of transparency and accountability.
Of course, there is much more than just those three steps to saving a democracy.
That is why we raised combating corruption to be the third of our seven pillars. We saw this challenge in Trump’s first administration, and America is heading further toward oligarchy. For example, Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, contributed $277 million to Donald Trump’s campaign and the races of other Republican candidates. Musk has been rewarded with a semi-official position in Trump’s government with questionable oversight or accountability. His supposed role gives him the chance to pressure or cut funding to agencies that regulate his commercial industries. With over a dozen billionaires lined up for senior positions, Trump’s second administration will be the wealthiest in American history, featuring secretaries in the top 0.0001% who may share a steadfast allegiance to Trump rather than to the Constitution.
Of course, there is much more than just those three steps to saving a democracy. In the Democracy Playbook, we lay out four more main pillars: reinforce civic and media space, protect pluralistic governance, counter disinformation, and make democracy deliver.
You might well ask, why only seven? Part of the challenge of dealing with autocracy is autocrats take a flood-the-zone approach that shocks people and quickly overwhelms the system. It is therefore important to not only be reactive, but also to be proactive to figure out what actions pose the greatest risks to democracy — and vigorously respond to them. Responding to flood-the-zone tactics in this fashion is among the reasons that Poland, the Czech Republic and Brazil restored democracy while Hungary did not.
Where do we go from here? Every sector of American life must get its act together, and fast, if democracy is to be saved. Media can’t engage in false equivalences or burnish dangerous disinformation. Civic society needs to activate. Big tent coalitions will be necessary, as was the case in those countries where backslide was reversed. Labor has an essential and foundational role to play, as does business, including the tech and media sectors.
But above all, it’s up to the American people. Across party lines, the majority of Americans agree democracy is the best form of government. While Trump and his supporters insist the election was a sweeping mandate, it was an extremely close contest in which the opposition of many Americans to deeply controversial plans associated with Donald Trump’s campaign contributed to him receiving less than 50% of votes cast.
Since the time of the Marshall Plan, America has succeeded in meeting enormous challenges. We are at another one of those moments in which the outcome of our actions will have a generational impact. As we point out in our playbook, those who count America out prematurely have learned from their mistakes, and we certainly do not believe the American people are prepared to abandon freedoms.
Using the Democracy Playbook as a guide, we envision a modern version of a Marshall Plan that can restore democracy to the country that has been, in the words of former President Ronald Reagan, a “shining city on a hill” for over two centuries — but only if we all work together.
