12 February 2025

Philea publishes “2025 Democracy Briefer for Funders: What’s Happening to European Democracy and What Funders Can Do About It” exploring democratic backsliding, its causes and potential solutions

Philea has published “2025 Democracy Briefer for Funders: What’s Happening to European Democracy and What Funders Can Do About It”, an in-depth explainer, commissioned by the Democracy Network, that explores democratic backsliding and its causes, provides a comprehensive understanding of the issue and enables philanthropy to develop strategies that address the multidimensional challenges democratic backsliding presents.

The concept of democratic backsliding has sparked heated debates across the global stage. Is it a serious threat, or is it more of a perceived danger? If it is a real phenomenon, what evidence supports its existence and what does this say about its severity? Are some regions more vulnerable, or is no nation truly immune to it? What can philanthropy do to address this issue? This explainer takes a look at the key indicators of democratic backsliding and root causes driving it, drawing on a wide body of evidence from published research to offer insights into the current state of democracy and opportunities for philanthropy to seize.

Key findings from the explainer include:

  • While polarisation and populism often demand immediate attention, it is essential to examine and address the deeper, underlying causes. Critical needs like affordable healthcare and housing were left underfunded while the cost of living soared. This neglect has widened socio-economic gaps, deepening the sentiment that our current democracy does not treat everyone as equals.
  • Even when democratic backsliding doesn’t lead to dictatorship, it significantly erodes the quality and stability of democratic governance. Early identification and response to threats are crucial: The deeper the erosion, the harder it is to recover.
  • Philanthropy alone cannot reverse democratic backsliding, but it can catalyse change. The potential for impact is at an all-time high. There is a rich ecosystem of movements and organisations out there ready to ramp up their efforts in defending and innovating democracy and there are numerous tried and tested methods waiting to be leveraged.

The explainer provides a concise and evidence backed pitch for funders to convince their peers and boards about ramping up democracy support, shares a menu of options to engage with the field of democracy, ranging from low threshold to bolder approaches, and highlights existing collaborations and calls for scaling up what already exists, rather than creating new vehicles and parallel structures.

This briefer was commissioned by the Democracy Network, a community of foundations working in the field of democracy seeking to facilitate collaborative actions around the topic of defending versus developing democracy.


Read here: “2025 Democracy Briefer for Funders: What’s Happening to European Democracy and What Funders Can Do About It”

Contact

Nils Luyten
Programme Manager – Democracy Collaborations
nils.luyten@philea.eu
Related News & Opinions