The decline of democracy and popula

The decline of democracy and popular disenchantment with democratic institutions have recently become hot topics in academic and think tank circles. Freedom House, in its annual Freedom in the World report released in January, cites a seventh consecutive year of decline in freedom around the world but cautions that the decline is not a precipitous one and thus shouldn’t be exaggerated. Joshua Kurlantzick’s book, Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government, and essay in Foreign Policy “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back”, by comparison, offer a starker view of a ”consistent” decline of democracy. Kurlantzick identifies the key culprit for the decline: The middle class, contrary to the expectations of Samuel Huntington and Seymour Martin Lipset, isn’t showing all that much of a longing for freedom these days.