Measuring Parliamentary Democratic Erosion

Professor Osnat Akirav, The Western Galilee College

The 2024 report from the Varieties of Democracy Project reveals that liberal democracies have become the least common form of government worldwide. In the last two decades, democratic backsliding has garnered significant attention from political scientists. Researchers have pointed out that understanding and measuring democratic backsliding requires a critical focus on legislative backsliding. However, I argue that while legislative backsliding is an important aspect, it is only one part of a broader and more significant issue that I propose to call parliamentary democratic erosion, emphasizing the role of the legislative branch. To identify and measure parliamentary democratic erosion, I analyze changes in two components of political behavior: the influence of informal institutions within parliament and the use of formal procedures to alter existing behavioral norms

The proposed theoretical framework begins with the role of elected leaders in democracies. After being elected, these leaders initiate a concerted and sustained attack on the institutions that are meant to check their power or on the rules that hold them accountable, and they are pitting democracy against constitutionalism to the detriment of liberalism. This attack on institutions and the resulting harm to liberalism, motivate legislators to push for changes in the informal practices within parliament and use formal procedures to alter established behavioral norms. The outcomes of these actions have the potential to lead to the erosion of parliamentary democracy

 For Registration: https://www.eventer.co.il/research18052026