US democratic decline threatens global rule of law, report warns

# Analysis The deterioration of American democratic institutions carries concrete consequences far beyond U.S. borders. As the world's largest economy and military power, America has long anchored the international legal order—from trade agreements to human rights enforcement to nuclear non-proliferation treaties—all systems that depend on predictable, rule-based governance. When democratic accountability erodes at home, it undermines American credibility in these forums and emboldens authoritarian regimes elsewhere to flout international norms, knowing the enforcer of that order is weakened. More immediately, the report's findings signal rising risks of policy whiplash—where fundamental commitments reverse with each election cycle—making it harder for allies to coordinate security strategies or for investors to plan long-term initiatives that depend on stable legal frameworks. For developing democracies looking to America as a model, the steep decline also removes a powerful counterexample to the argument that autocracy is simply the inevitable end state of governance.