Democracies across the globe are at a crossroads, as authoritarians seek to chip away at freedoms

Moving Wednesday

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In November, the world's most powerful democracy elected as its next president a man who schemed to overturn its last presidential election. A month later, South Koreans swarmed their legislature to block their president's attempt to impose martial law.

The contrast sums up a year that tested democracy on all sides.

Incumbent parties and leaders were battered in elections that covered 60% of the world's population, a sign of widespread discontent in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It also was a sign of democracy working well, as it continued its core function of giving citizens the opportunity to replace the people who govern them.

That made 2024 a year in which the state of democracy is both a glass half full and half empty.

From Asia to Africa to the Americas, it produced examples of democracy working and citizens standing up against attempted coups or authoritarians. At the same time, some of the new regimes ushered in are taking a distinctly authoritarian tack. And the year ends with fresh turmoil in three prominent democracies, Canada, France and Germany.

Donald Trump ended his last term trying to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden and rallying an angry crowd of supporters, some of whom then stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to block Congress from certifying Biden's victory. It was a shocking end to the U.S.'s long tradition of peacefully transferring power from one president to the next.

Nonetheless, voters in November agreed to give Trump another term in the White House, even as he increasingly embraced authoritarian leaders and promised to seek retribution against those who defended democracy in 2020.

Voters didn't heed warnings about Trump's threat to democracy and were driven more by frustration at inflation and a surge in migration during Biden's term.

That, of course, is democracy in action: Voters can choose to throw out an incumbent party even if the establishment warns that it's dangerous. Indeed, the glass half full position on Trump is that his win was entirely democratic.

Trump's 2016 victory was due to a quirk in the country's 18th century Constitution that awards the presidency not based on a majority of the popular vote, but to whoever wins a majority of state-based Electoral College votes.

But in 2024, Trump won both the popular and Electoral College votes. He also expanded his margins among Latino and Black voters. He won with high turnout, debunking a long-held myth that U.S. conservatives struggle when many people vote. That belief has driven Republican attempts to make it tougher to cast a ballot.

The quiet period after the election is to some extent an illusion. Had Trump lost, he and his allies were poised to contest a victory by his Democratic opponent, so it's not as if anti-democratic tendencies were erased by his win.

Trump's victory helped trigger turmoil in Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government was rocked this week by the resignation of his prominent finance minister over disagreements on handling Trump's threatened tariffs. And Germany's government collapsed ahead of elections next year, sparking turmoil in Europe's largest economy less than two weeks after a similar political meltdown in France.

The returning U.S. president is part of a wave of new leaders who have gained ground in Western countries, some of whom analysts warn are anti-democratic, even if popularly elected, because they seek to dismantle the system of checks and balances that has made it possible for voters to replace them or halt potentially dangerous policies.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a major Trump booster, is an icon of this movement after he revamped his country's judiciary, legislative maps and media to make it almost impossible for the opposition to win. Two years ago, European Union lawmakers declared that Orban had transformed his country from a democracy into “a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy.”

Analysts warn that Slovakia's leftist, pro-Russian prime minister Robert Fico is headed in that direction. Conservative populist parties also gained ground in the European Union Parliamentary elections in June.

Trump also highlights another worrying trend for democracy — a surge in violence around elections.

The billionaire candidate, controversial for his own rhetoric urging violence on protesters or migrants, was the target of two assassination attempts.

According to Washington, D.C.-based Freedom House, 26 of the year's 62 elections across the world featured violence, including attacks on local candidates in Mexico and South Africa and violence at polling places in Chad. Slovakia's Fico was targeted, as well.

That comes as there is a notable dip in enthusiasm for democracy. A Pew poll of 24 countries released earlier this year found widespread dissatisfaction with democracy worldwide, with a median of 59% of voters concerned about how it is working in their country amid economic concerns and a sense of alienation from political elites.

Still, there is a clear silver lining for democracy.

The same Pew poll that found its appeal slipping also found that it remains by far the preferred system of government worldwide. And people turned out to demonstrate that, during elections and in protest of anti-democratic moves.

South Korea was not the only foiled attempt to disband democracy. In Bolivia in June, the military tried to replace President Luis Arce, with armored vehicles ramming through the doors of the government palace. But the troops retreated after Arce named a new commander who ordered them back.

In Bangladesh, protests over limits on who can work for the government expanded into public frustration with the 15-year reign of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, toppling her regime and forcing her to flee the country.

In Senegal, the country's president tried to delay its March election but was overruled by the nation's top court, and voters replaced him with a largely-unknown opposition leader who had just been freed from prison. In Botswana and South Africa, parties that had ruled for decades stepped aside or shared power without incident after losing elections.

Democracy isn't static. Its health always depends on the next election. The fall of Germany's government and possible collapse of Canada's could just be democracy in action, giving voters a chance to elect new leaders. Or they could usher in more authoritarian regimes.

More will be revealed about how democracy did over the last year as its election results play out in 2025 and the years to come.

FILE - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a plenary session at the German parliament Bundestag where he faces a vote of confidence, in Berlin, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - AfD head Alice Weidel speaks during a general debate of the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Finance, Public Safety and Intergovernmental Affairs, participates in a news conference after a swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario, Dec. 16, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pictured through glass as he speaks with members of his caucus in Ottawa, Ontario, Dec. 16, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks at a press conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Nov. 19, 2024. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Protesters march to the presidential office after a candlelight vigil against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by South Korea Presidential Office, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (South Korea Unification Ministry via AP, File)

FILE - People watch a TV screen showing South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's televised briefing at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks during a press conference with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)

FILE - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses a media conference at the end of an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)

FILE - Violent rioters, loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

FILE - With the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Employees sort ballots at Los Angeles County Election Center on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)

FILE - Melissa Warner, of Johnstown, Pa., marks her ballot on Election Day at Westmont Borough No. 1 polling place at Westmont Grove in Cambria County, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Thomas Slusser/The Tribune-Democrat via AP, File)

FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump is pictured at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents after an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to deliver a concession speech for the 2024 presidential election on the campus of Howard University in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - South Korean martial law soldiers try to enter the National Assembly compound in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 4, 2024. (Cho Sung-bong/Newsis via AP, File)

MILAN (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday defended her friendship with U.S. tech billionaire and Trump confidant Elon Musk, telling Italian lawmakers that she would not be influenced in areas where he has economic interests.

“I can be a friend of Elon Musk and at the same time the head of the first Italian government that made a new law to regulate private activity in space,’’ she said, responding to questions during a customary parliamentary discussion ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels this week.

Meloni has met frequently with the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire since her far-right-led government came to power in 2022, keen to bring investments in Italy. Meloni’s government this summer approved a framework for foreign space companies to operate in Italy, which is expected to generate 7.3 billion euros ($7.7 billion) in investments by 2026.

Taking a swipe at her predecessors, she said previous Italian leaders “who thought they had a good relationship, even a friendship, with a foreign leader, they had to slavishly follow what the others did.”

Meloni added that she had good relationships “with many people" but “I don’t take orders from anyone.”

Meloni and Musk’s friendship has attracted attention in the past. Musk denied a romantic relationship last September after a photo of them looking fondly at each other went viral. The two were at a black-tie event in New York where Musk had presented Meloni with an award.

Musk appeared a year ago at an event for youth members of Meloni’s party in Italy. More recently, he took to social media platform X, which he controls, to attack an Italian court decision that has stymied Meloni’s plans to vet migrants rescued at sea in Albania. Musk's comments drew a strong rebuke from Italy's president.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, left, and Minister for European Affairs Tommaso Foti talk during the Senate session in Rome, Wednesday, Dec.18, 2024 (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gestures during the Senate session in Rome, Wednesday, Dec.18, 2024 (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gestures during the Senate session in Rome, Wednesday, Dec.18, 2024. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, centre, gestures during the Senate session in Rome, Wednesday, Dec.18, 2024. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)