“If we want to save democracy, where do we start?”

By Jon Helfers (Power for Democracies) and Barend Bos (The School for Moral Ambition)

Across Europe and beyond, democracy is under pressure.

Authoritarian parties are consolidating power, as funding for civil society shrinks and press freedom declines year on year. A network of authoritarian politicians and movements is working, country by country, to undermine democratic institutions, restrict civic space, and curtail the civil liberties that hold a democracy together.

The future of our democracies depends on what we do next.

The Collaboration

We, Barend and Jon, come from different organisations but share a concern: how can we most effectively strengthen democracy? Barend works at The School for Moral Ambition (The School), which connects talented professionals with high-impact civil society organisations. Jon works at Power for Democracies, which researches where resources can have the greatest impact on defending democracy.

The idea for a collaboration started back in December 2024. Barend, on paternity leave, was confronted by headline after headline detailing global authoritarian backsliding. From Trump's re-election to martial law in South Korea, things looked bleak. Barend realised that democracy underpins almost every other cause: without functioning democratic institutions, the work of civil society is difficult to sustain. (Read his full account here.)

But The School only launches fellowships where it is confident they can have a meaningful impact, and democracy is a vast and complex cause area. For its other programs, The School had built on existing research to identify promising fellowship opportunities. For democracy, the existing research did not provide enough clarity - the School needed an expert analysis of how and where new talent could have the most impact.

That brought Barend to Power for Democracies. Jon and his team had already studied high-impact civil society initiatives that counter authoritarian threats around the world.

Together, we adapted that work to a new question:

Where can talent have a meaningful impact in making European democracies more resilient?

The partnership was a natural fit. The School brings a model for putting skilled people to work where they are needed most. Power for Democracies brings the research to show where that is.

Power for Democracies was excited by The School’s interest in adding democracy to its cause areas. It presented an opportunity to increase the network of impact-focused organisations working to strengthen democracy, drawing on The School’s established success with its fellowship programmes in other cause areas.

The Method

Over four months, Power for Democracies adapted and applied its existing methodology to a group of European democracies relevant to The School´s fellowship programme. The process had three steps.

First, Power for Democracies prioritised countries. Building on its Effectively Countering Authoritarian Playbooks (ECAPB) project, the team used a similar country prioritisation process to assess importance, threat, and tractability. From a sample of 47 countries in Europe, 4 focus countries emerged.

Second, the democratic pillar most under threat was identified in each priority country. The analysis drew from the Global State of Democracies Indices by International IDEA, which uses sub-indices categorised into four democratic pillars: representation, rights, rule of law, and participation.

Third, promising tactics and organisations were identified. Based on desk research and expert interviews, the team identified tactics with evidence of effectiveness in defending the relevant pillar. They then mapped the civil society organisations already putting those tactics into practice on the ground.

Throughout the process, Power for Democracies drew on literature reviews, expert interviews, and quantitative and qualitative analyses. The result was a shortlist of 21 organisations working across four countries.

The Results

Four countries emerged as key priorities: Germany, France, Italy, and Slovakia.

Germany

Germany was selected largely because of the rising risks to its democracy due to the rise of the authoritarian Alternative for Germany (AfD). Economic pressures, regional inequalities, and dissatisfaction with mainstream political parties have created openings for the AfD. A hardening sense of "us" versus "them" threatens minority groups, amplified by disinformation that experts believe has foreign backing. In some of the areas most affected by these dynamics, the AfD has built a presence in community spaces where other political actors have struggled to engage.

The research identified strengthening civic space at the local level as the most promising approach to countering these specific dynamics. Four tactics emerged as particularly relevant: non-partisan local campaigning; mobilising voter turnout and building alliances around independent candidates; publicly identifying businesses with extremist ties; and supporting large-scale, independent protest mobilisation.

The results included a shortlist of German organisations already using these tactics, most of them in the at-risk eastern states.

France

In France, democratic pressures are coming from many directions. The authoritarian Rassemblement National (RN) has moved from the fringes into the mainstream, while the racism and Islamophobia associated with the party have become increasingly prominent.

Media ownership has also become more concentrated. The Bolloré group, a conglomerate with significant holdings across the French media sector, has been identified by press-freedom organisations as a threat to editorial independence. The World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS) has downgraded France's civic space to "obstructed”, reflecting increasing constraints on people's ability to organize, speak, and participate in public life. Meanwhile, public trust is also low. Only approximately one quarter of French citizens think their democracy is working well, while trust in the president, political parties, and the National Assembly is lower still. Local elected leaders remain comparatively trusted.

Given these pressures, the research identified defending civic space as a priority, with tactics including legal action, policy and political advocacy, democracy research, anti-racism and hate-speech work, and support for local democratic innovation, which builds on the comparatively high trust in local elected leaders. The team identified a shortlist of French organisations working across these areas.

Italy

While France and Germany are seeing signs of democratic backsliding, Italy has already seen substantial democratic decline.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks Italy 56th out of 180 countries on press freedom, one of the lowest rankings in Europe. CIVICUS has also downgraded Italy's civic space to "obstructed".

Under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the independence of the media is particularly under threat. Italian civil society remains active, but organisations are increasingly operating under significant pressure. Some of the key organisations protecting journalists from attacks have substantial resourcing and funding issues and need support.

The main priority identified in the research is to protect journalists and independent media through monitoring, legal aid, advocacy, capacity building, and digital safety work. Several Italian organisations are working across these areas.

Slovakia

Slovakia is the smallest of the four priority countries, but it scores highest on the extent of democratic backsliding in the analysis. It is also at a pivotal juncture, where intervention still has significant potential to influence the trajectory.

Transparency International ranks Slovakia 61st out of 182 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index. Under Prime Minister Robert Fico, the government has weakened the institutions designed to provide checks and balances. Press freedom has also deteriorated, hitting its lowest point in 15 years, with RSF adding Fico to its list of press freedom predators for intimidating journalists alongside other high-profile ministers in his cabinet.

Slovakia’s position within the EU also gives these developments significance beyond its borders. As an EU Member State, Slovakia can veto EU decisions requiring unanimity, giving an authoritarian-leaning government influence across the bloc beyond what its size might suggest.

The priorities identified were twofold: protect independent journalism and expose the corruption that enables pressure on civil society by partnering with Slovakia's strong civil society organisations. The two reinforce each other: journalism has played an important role in bringing allegations of the government's corruption to light, while reducing corruption could strengthen parliamentary oversight and the rule of law.

What's Next?

There's no single playbook for protecting democracy. The four countries identified face four kinds of democratic threat, and the organisations working to address them need different kinds of support.

Over the coming months, Barend is traveling to some of the priority countries to meet the shortlisted organisations and the people behind them. The goal is to understand their specific needs directly and design a new talent program with them, rather than fitting their needs to an existing program model.

Through our exploration, we learned that Democracy is a different challenge from the causes The School has worked on before. The field is more funding-constrained than talent-constrained; it is more fragmented, and careers are hard to come by. Ultimately, The School’s goal is to have the most impact. That might mean launching a fellowship, or it might mean adapting to the context through an adjusted talent program connected with the larger democracy ecosystem. Barend’s team is working hard to complete that design puzzle in collaboration with the democracy field and intends to finalize their decision by the end of the year.

Whether The School launches a fellowship or adjusts the talent program in another way, Power for Democracies will stay committed to supporting them by identifying opportunities for strengthening democracy. Collaborations like these are important to Power for Democracies, and they complement its core work of identifying recommendations of highly effective civil society initiatives for donors who want to support effective ways to advance democracy and of providing analysis and tools for civil society and philanthropy.

Join Us

Do you want to dive deeper with us, have a burning question or critique on the fellowship programme and the research?

We're launching our findings in a webinar on October 20 at 16.00 CEST. Join us for a walkthrough of the research. Sign up here.

You can read the full methodology and the complete list of tactics and civil society organisations in the report.