Democracy Under Pressure – Is Sweden an Exception?

Democracy is in retreat across the world, now at its lowest point in nearly half a century. What is driving the decline, and why are some countries more vulnerable than others?

Since the turn of the millennium, more than twenty democratically elected leaders – from Hungary and Turkey to India, Brazil and the United States – have undermined the democratic institutions of their own countries. American political scientist Susan Stokes has studied why some countries succumb while others stand firm. She finds that economic inequality weighs more heavily on the risk of democratic backsliding than the factors often assumed to protect democracy – prosperity, state capacity, and maturity. At the same time, she identifies Sweden as one of the exceptions. What makes the Swedish exception hold – and what could break it? 

Welcome to a conversation with one of the world’s leading scholars on democracy. At the seminar, SNS will release a Swedish translation of Stokes’s essay in the Journal of Democracy, based on her acclaimed book The Backsliders (2025). 

The seminar will be held in English. 

Speakers 

Cecilia Malmström, former European Commissioner, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs and Member of the European Parliament. She is currently Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Assar Gabrielsson Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. 

Susan Stokes, Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and Director of the Chicago Center on Democracy. Author of several renowned books on democracy. 

Anders Sundell, Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Political Science, and researcher at the Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg. His research focuses on political representation and the link between public opinion and policy. 

The conversation will be moderated by Ilinca Benson, CEO, SNS.