In a Nutshell

The World Justice Project’s (WJP) 2025 Rule of Law Index paints a stark picture: the global “rule of law recession” is accelerating. According to the report, 68% of countries saw their rule of law scores decline over the past year, a significant jump from 57% in the previous report.

The data reveals that the average rate of decline (–1.07%) is more than double the average rate of improvement (+0.52%), indicating that democratic resilience is eroding rapidly. The WJP identifies widespread declines in Fundamental Rights (66% of countries) , Open Government (66%) , and sharp drops in freedom of expression (73%) and assembly (72%) as primary drivers.

Our Take

This report is an urgent validation of our core mission. The WJP’s data provides empirical evidence that democratic backsliding is not a passive erosion but an active dismantling of institutional safeguards. This “rise in authoritarianism” is precisely what the 451 Institute defines as Majority Overreach, where majorities systematically weaken the Critical Institutions designed to check their power. The finding that 61% of legislatures and judiciaries are failing to limit executive power is an alarm bell. Even in Europe, declines in countries like the Netherlands (–0.7%) , Sweden (–0.5%) , and Hungary (–2.0%) show that no democracy is immune. This data confirms our strategy: we must move from analysis to action by reinforcing the firewalls and adopting new frameworks to ensure collective decisions protect fundamental rights from majoritarian pressures.