There is plenty to worry about in the global contest between democracy and autocracy. Iran’s violent repression of antigovernment protests in January crushed the latest effort to challenge a ruthless regime. In many European countries, including Britain, Germany and France, far-right parties seem ascendant. And Donald Trump is doing what he can to undermine democracy in the United States.

Yet a closer analysis shows that autocrats are often running scared of their people. And surprisingly, democracy these days seems sometimes to be held in higher esteem in the global south than in the democratic heartland of the west.

These trends show there is nothing inevitable about autocracy’s rise – that the defenders of democracy are on the right side of history and should keep fighting. This is no time for fatalistic despair.

In the west, a disturbing number of people have begun to support politicians who disdain democracy. These people are often members of a country’s ethnic majority working class who are struggling, facing economic stagnation amid growing inequality. They feel that government officials do not serve, listen to or respect them. Out of frustration, they increasingly embrace the anti-democratic far right. That the far right offers little practical assistance, and often works against their economic interests, has not been an obstacle. They are attracted to its attacks on governing elites and convenient scapegoating of immigrants and other minorities.

To recapture these alienated voters, pro-democracy parties must do a better job of making them feel genuinely heard and respected – of showing a real commitment to serving their interests. That will probably require rejecting limitless free trade and globalization, better delivering social services, and meaningfully addressing the problem of affordability. It will also involve a rhetorical shift away from progressives’ identitarian tendency to speak in terms of a collection of narrow interest groups rather than appeals that encompass everyone. And it will demand taking on the........

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