Scaling Down Democracy: Broadening critical thinking in times of decline

Camilo Umaña, Scientific Director, International Institute for the Sociology of Law Oñati
Shelly Whitman, Executive Director, Dallaire Institute
Kate Swanson, CRC in International Peace, Security and Children
Jennifer Llewellyn, McNeil Chair in Restorative Justice

The idea of scaling down democracy aims to acknowledge its fragility while broadening the scope of critical thinking about its erosion. Democracy is at its lowest point in decades, with more than 70% of the world’s population living under autocratic rule. Authoritarian resurgence, populism, and the erosion of trust are strongly related to structural factors like inequality, social fragmentation, disinformation, and weakened rule of law. Rather than treating this decline as a terminal crisis, the concept of scaling down democracy invites us to focus on smaller scales of restoration – community practices, local resilience, and everyday forms of resistance – as sites where democratic values can be nurtured.