Backsliding Democracies (Series)

In North Carolina, an Attempt to Overturn a State Supreme Court Election

The losing candidate for a seat on the high court is trying to have more than 60,000 valid votes thrown out.

In a dispute that is attracting national attention, Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican candidate for the North Carolina Supreme Court and judge on the state intermediate court, is seeking to invalidate more than 60,000 votes and overturn the electoral win of his opponent, Justice Allison Riggs.

The dispute stems from November’s state supreme court election, which Griffin lost by just 734 votes. The crux of Griffin’s argument is a claim that the state board of elections has been breaking state election law for decades by following an incorrect process for registering voters, including failing to require voters to provide a driver’s license or social security information and wrongfully allowing certain overseas and absentee ballots to be submitted without photo identification.

Georgia’s Elections Reveal Regression of Democracy and Gender Equity. The Country’s First Female President Is Fighting Back.

From Latin America to Eastern Europe, election results have signaled the global rise of right-wing authoritarianism and a growing backlash against women’s inclusion in politics. Nowhere is this trend more evident than in Georgia, a small yet strategically significant country bridging Europe and Asia.

On Oct. 27, Georgia held pivotal parliamentary elections that many hoped would realign the nation with its pro-European and democratic aspirations. However, the ruling Georgian Dream party, known for its anti-Western rhetoric and led by an oligarch and the country’s richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili, retained power through disputed elections. This occurred despite over 70 percent of the population supporting EU and NATO integration.

Backsliding Democracies and Women’s Rights in the U.S. and Around the Globe

Can a democracy where women have never been equal ever really thrive? How are attacks on democracy tied to gender equity? What can we learn from past fights to protect and expand women’s rights in order to chart a path forward?

A two-part virtual discussion hosted by Ms. magazine in partnership with NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center and the 92Y explored these questions, plus how women’s rights are inextricably tied to the integrity and durability of democratic institutions—featuring Melissa Murray, Alexis McGill-Johnson, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and more.

The Patriarchs’ War on Women

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Assaults on women’s and LGBTQ+ rights—and attempts to put women “in their place”—constitute a backlash against feminist progress expanding women’s full inclusion in public life.

As women’s participation becomes more prominent in domestic and international politics, here’s why political sexism and gender policing are also becoming more virulent—and what to do about it.

(This essay is part of Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented by Ms., NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and Rewire News Group.)

When Voters Vote, They Vote for Abortion—So Republicans Want to Make It Harder to Vote

Where voters are allowed to have a say, they give a resounding “yes” to abortion rights. Instead of adjusting their politics accordingly, the GOP just makes it harder for voters to vote.

There is a direct relationship between authoritarianism and opposition to abortion rights. After all, what is more authoritarian and more a rejection of basic individual freedoms, than believing the government should be able to force you into pregnancy and motherhood?

(This essay is part of Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented by Ms., NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and Rewire News Group.)

Are Women’s Rights the Canary in the Coal Mine of a Democracy in Decline?

The tenets of reproductive health, rights and justice—and those of a healthy democracy—are not only inextricably interconnected, but essential to our nation’s promise.

(This essay is part of Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented by Ms., NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and Rewire News Group. This story also appears in the Summer 2023 issue of Ms. magazine. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the Summer issue delivered straight to your mailbox!)

Feminist Concerns Are Democracy Concerns

As our rights backslide, so too does our democracy—which is why feminist concerns are always and inevitably democratic concerns. This is a point we need to reinforce over and over and over again as this country gears up for the 2024 presidential election—the first since the Court stripped core rights away in Dobbs. 

(This essay is part of Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented by Ms., NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and Rewire News Group.)

Global Authoritarianism, Women’s Rights and the Power of Feminist Organizing

“One thing that we see now, even with all of the challenges of a totalitarian government and of the Taliban dictatorship, is that the people on the frontlines of this fight are the women of Afghanistan. It is incredible that they are coming into the streets to fight for fundamental freedoms. I think this is a big lesson for all of us, even for those in the United States and others in the international community, to see these women now.”

(This essay is part of Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented by Ms., NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and Rewire News Group.)