IRI Partners with Leading French Think Tank for Global Survey of Attitudes toward Democracy

Democracies around the world are under pressure. From increased polarization to foreign interference to a complete lack of trust in media, much has been written about the broader forms this pressure has taken, but surprisingly little research has been done on how and why individual people feel disenchanted with the promises of democracy.

To answer these questions, IRI partnered with the French Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique (Fondapol) to conduct a global survey of 36,295 citizens in 42 democracies in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific, gauging attitudes towards democracy in their own countries and the defining issues democracies around the world will have to confront moving forward. IRI and Fondapol have published their expert analysis of the results in a two-volume publication Democracies Under Pressure, edited by Fondapol Executive Director Dominique Reynié. The first volume focuses on issues common to ever country surveyed, from gender and generational difference in impressions of democracy to trust in big tech companies. The second volume focuses on attitude towards democracy in each country individually, and presents IRI and Fondapol’s new index of Democratic Culture.