At a very delicate moment such as what democracies are experiencing around the world, the debate on the state of health of representative institutions also returns to the centre in academic circles. On April 22, 2026, at New York University, the meeting “Democracy on the Edge will be held. Challenges to the Rule of Law. An Italian Perspective”, promoted by the Department of Italian Studies and the NYU Colloquium in the Humanities. The appointment, in English, is scheduled from 18 to 19:30 and is open to the public. It is part of that process that different observers define “global self-cratization”. According to the most recent data of The Economist Intelligence Unit, on 167 countries analyzed only a minority share can be classified as full democracy, while a substantial part is now among authoritarian or hybrid regimes.
To intervene will be Alfredo Bazoli, Senator of the Italian Republic, who will bring a reading centered on the Italian case within this scenario. His speech will be followed by an answer from the historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor at NYU and scholar of authoritarian phenomena. At the heart of the discussion there will be the progressive weakening of the rule of law, understood as the set of mechanisms – separation of powers, institutional controls, independence of judiciary – which limit the exercise of political power. It is precisely this system, built in the second post-war period, to have consolidated in Western democracies the primacy of the law on force; its erosion, according to numerous studies, happens today gradually, often without noticeable breaks, but through legislative changes, pressure on institutions and an increasing delegittimation of the guarantee bodies.
The Italian case is presented as a significant example, not so much for a conclaimed crisis as for signals considered by some observers worthy of attention. Despite an international reputation that remains stable – also thanks to the European position and the formal respect of democratic parameters – the internal debate highlights critical issues related to the relationship between state powers, the effectiveness of institutional counterweights and the confidence of citizens in representative institutions.
L’articolo A meeting to talk about the danger of NYU autocracies proviene da IlNewyorkese.
