The PS: Political Science & Politics special section below - Democratic Backsliding - is free to read until the 7th of April 2024 where not open access.

"Despite the general narrative that the world is in a period of democratic decline, there have been surprisingly few empirical studies that assess whether this is systematically true. Most existing studies of global backsliding are based largely if not entirely on subjective indicators that rely on expert coder judgment. Our study surveys objective indicators of democracy (e.g., incumbent performance in elections) and finds little evidence of global democratic decline during the past decade."

Some of the special issue authors took part in a roundtable at APSA 2023 in Los Angeles (apparently the most-attended journal panel in APSA conference history!).  You can watch a recording of the roundtable on YouTube as shown.

Follow PS on Twitter and BlueSky to stay up to date with the latest from this important journal.