Democratic Self-Defense in Times of Autocratization

WZB researcher Johannes Gerschewski has been a Heisenberg Fellow since January 2026. He is conducting research in his new project  “Democratic Self-Defense in Times of Autocratization”, where he explores how democracies can resist and revert ongoing autocratization processes. The Heisenberg Fellowship is funded by the German Research Foundation.

According to the Swedish research project V-Dem, only 12% of the world's population currently lives in liberal democracies. Liberal democracy is the rarest form of government worldwide. In his new project in the Heisenberg programme Johannes Gerschewski will explore how democracies can resist and revert ongoing autocratization processes. The project consists of three interrelated parts that directly build on each other. The first task of the project is to take stock of what we know about autocratization processes.

The researcher suggest conducting a thorough examination of the current state of the art. Building on such a synthesis, the second task of the Heisenberg project concentrates on a systematical case comparison of democracies that autocratized and eventually broke down (Hungary since 2006 and the Philippines 2016-2023) and contrast them to those democracies that regressed but then recovered again (South Korea 2008-2023 and Slovenia 2012-2021). The guiding question is therefore why was resistance to autocratization successful in some cases and failed in others?

In the third task, Johannes Gerschwski zooms in on the most controversial instruments that democracies have in their self-defensive toolbox: “militant democracy” instruments. These instruments build on the conviction that liberal democracies need to actively defend themselves and should apply even prima facie illiberal means (e.g. political party bans, curtailing of press freedom, restraining of freedom of assembly) to save democracy from its enemies. The project connects so to the state-theoretical debate between proponents (e.g., Karl Loewenstein) and opponents (e.g., Hans Kelsen) of “militant democracy” and asks what we can learn today from this classic debate.

The Heisenberg programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG) is awarded to outstanding researchers who already meet all the requirements for appointment to a permanent professorship. It gives them enough space to further qualify for leadership positions and to pursue their own long-term research agenda.

20/1/26, kes/JG