Gennadii Iakovlev

I am aspiring to tease out the structural correlates of democratic backsliding. I expect that backsliding starts with the rising inequality that causes the demise of party systems, bringing populists to power, and continues with takeovers of constitutional courts. I believe that to detect backsliding in its earlier phases, one should rather focus on the less visible events than those that lead to a decrease in democracy indexes. Once I have created a database of backsliding, I will address three questions: why, who, and how. First and foremost, I am planning to tease out the structural correlates of democratic backsliding. Second, I want to explore what politicians are most likely to commit autocratization. Third, I want to understand how exactly autocrats engage in backsliding.