Saskia Brechenmacher

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Africa’s Democratic Kaleidoscope: Trends to Watch in 2026 Supporters of democracy within and outside the continent should track these four patterns in the coming year.

🆕"Africa’s democratic landscape defies a single story of systemic backsliding or reform—and instead is best understood as a collection of diverging and still unsettled trajectories."

@saskiabr.bsky.social and Frances Brown identify four governance trends to watch for in Africa this year⤵️

In Minneapolis and Elsewhere, Do Street Protests Make a Difference? Three factors shape when protests restrain democratic erosion—and when they don’t.

🆕Can street protests—like those in Minneapolis—actually slow democratic erosion? @saskiabr.bsky.social lays out the 3 features of impactful protest: nonviolence, broad coalitions, and long-term, institutional action.

Today for @foreignpolicy.com ⤵️

Rest in Power: A Running List of the Preventable Deaths Caused by Abortion Bans Ciji Graham. Tierra Walker. Porsha Ngumezi. Josseli Barnica. Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick. Nevaeh Crain. Amber Nicole Thurman. Candi Miller. Taysha Wilkinson-Sobieski. Tierra Walker. Today, 22 sta...

Say their names.

At least 12 women have now died in the US because of delays in accessing medically necessary reproductive care.

msmagazine.com/2024/11/04/w...

Don’t Count on Voters to Punish Trump’s Autocratic Moves Saskia Brechenmacher on why polarization erodes electoral accountability

We may hope that voters punish democratic erosion. But comparative evidence suggests that in polarized contexts, they often don't.

In Democracy Without Exception, I reflect on what opposition strategies have worked:
democracywithoutexception.substack.com/p/dont-count... @carnegiedcg.bsky.social

Don’t Count on Voters to Punish Trump’s Autocratic Moves Saskia Brechenmacher on why polarization erodes electoral accountability

I really recommend this from @saskiabr.bsky.social. And while you're at it, subscribe to Democracy without Exception! Always good, grounded discussion that does the much-needed work of analyzing the US in a global context democracywithoutexception.substack.com/p/dont-count...

How to Save the Fight for Women’s Rights The backlash against democracy calls for new strategies.

While it’s tempting to blame the backlash against gender equality on specific leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán or the U.S.’s Donald Trump, it’s a global problem – and solving it requires a new playbook.

@saskiabr.bsky.social explains in @foreignaffairs.com: www.foreignaffairs.com/world/how-sa...

My latest article, for @foreignaffairs.com, on how to the fight for women's rights has to adapt to a changed geopolitical landscape:

Important reading from @saskiabr.bsky.social on threats to women's rights in the context of democratic backsliding: "...Antidemocratic actors intentionally use gender to polarize the public and delegitimize broader human rights and equality norms." @carnegiedcg.bsky.social

The New Global Struggle Over Gender, Rights, and Family Values Heated political struggles over gender playing out in several regions of the world are more than just isolated or temporary reactions to recent progressive reforms: They are a key front in a larger cu...

@saskiabr.bsky.social spoke to @nytimes.com about the connection between gender equality and democracy! Quotes in the thread🧵⤵️

Read Saskia's full report "The New Struggle Over Gender, Rights, and Family Values" here:

Trump Erases Women From Foreign Policy The White House has overturned the decades-old bipartisan policy consensus that female empowerment serves U.S. interests.

@saskiabr.bsky.social and I wrote in @foreignpolicy.com about the dismantling of gender equality architecture in U.S. foreign policy, including offices that were created more than six decades ago with bipartisan consensus. foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/13/t...

Trump Erases Women From Foreign Policy The White House has overturned the decades-old bipartisan policy consensus that female empowerment serves U.S. interests.

"The Trump administration has abandoned the consensus that women's participation and perspectives add value to U.S. security policy and operations." @rcturk.bsky.social @saskiabr.bsky.social @foreignpolicy.com foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/13/t...

YouTube video by Carnegie Explains Are These Global Strategies the Key to Protecting U.S. Civic Space?

📽️📽️Check out the new explainer video from
@carnegieendowment.org on global lessons for nonprofits responding to shrinking civic space in the U.S.

The video highlights 3⃣ findings from the work of DCG Senior Fellow @saskiabr.bsky.social:

YouTube video by Carnegie Explains Are These Global Strategies the Key to Protecting U.S. Civic Space?

Civil society in the US faces new threats and pressures.

What can US nonprofits learn from strategies used by organizations and activists in other countries? This short video highlights findings from my research:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMbw...

The Global Backlash Against Gender Equality Podcast Episode · Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters · 07/14/2025 · 28m

🎙️"A lot of these [illiberal] actors have recognized that gender issues are a really good mobilization tool...It becomes a symbol of what you are against."

Listen to @saskiabr.bsky.social's discussion with @markleongoldberg.bsky.social on the #GlobalDispatches podcast👇

YouTube video by Carnegie Explains Are These Global Strategies the Key to Protecting U.S. Civic Space?

From Uganda to Nigeria, activists have pushed back against threats to protests, nonprofits, and free speech.

What can U.S. civil society learn from their success? We unpacked three strategies, based on work by @carnegiedcg.bsky.social's @saskiabr.bsky.social: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMbw...

Around the world, issues of so-called “gender ideology” – or issues like gender equality and LBGTQ rights – are subject to a new, powerful wave of backlash.
@carnegiedcg.bsky.social's @saskiabr.bsky.social explained how this backlash manifests in different regions 👇

Checking in from parental leave to share my latest paper with @carnegiedcg.bsky.social!

What's behind the contemporary anti-gender backlash? How does it manifest across different countries and regions? And why has it been difficult to mount an effective response?
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"The 2024 Super Election Year for Women in Politics: Stagnation, Setbacks, and Surprising Wins." Publication for the Colmena Fund for Women's Political Power, written by Saskia Brechenmacher.

🆕| The 2024 election year did not bring major upticks in women’s political representation.

This negative trendline underscores that the road to gender parity remains arduous and uncertain, argues @saskiabr.bsky.social.

Read her newest publication for the Colmena Fund👇
colmena.fund/wp-content/u...

Trump Is Using a Familiar Playbook to Erode U.S. Press Freedoms The experiences of other backsliding democracies demonstrate the dangers facing U.S. media freedoms during his second term.

How is Trump eroding U.S. press freedoms?

In their piece for @wpr.bsky.social, @saskiabr.bsky.social & Margot Treadwell highlight three key tactics, drawing insights from other backsliding democracies👇

Opinion | Andrew Tate, Accused of Sex Trafficking, Is Trump’s Kind of Guy The president ushers in a new age of aggressive male impunity.

These men (Musk, Hegseth, Kennedy Jr, Dana White) "weren’t elevated despite their alleged abuse of women. Putting them in charge proclaims that their values are now ascendant — power, aggression, hierarchy and leader-worship."

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/o...

Trump’s “Gender Ideology” Attacks Are Following a Global Movement In Europe and Latin America, the concept has been used to demand and justify far-reaching attacks on women’s rights and LGBTQ rights.

"In addition to targeting a vulnerable minority, attacks on gender ideology open the door to a much wider offensive against equality norms and rights protections," asserts @saskiabr.bsky.social.

Read her full piece for @carnegieendowment.org👇

ICYMI - after the German elections, the most important take aways are on Democracy and Defense. Analysis from @saskiabr.bsky.social and me for @carnegieendowment.org

For Years, Germany Has Looked Inward. Its Next Leader Doesn’t Have That Luxury. Merz will urgently need take on responsibility for the survival of the European project.

Germany's elections affirmed 2 major trends shaping its politics: increasing political fragmentation and the rise of the far-right.

The election results hold significant ramifications for Germany, the EU, and beyond, write @sophiabesch.bsky.social & @saskiabr.bsky.social for @carnegieendowment.org👇

Brazil Charges Bolsonaro With Attempting a Coup Brazil’s attorney general accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of overseeing a scheme to try to hold on to power. The Supreme Court will decide whether he is arrested.

Whereas US institutions completely failed to hold Trump accountable for his attempt to overturn an election, Brazil's institutions show some vigor.

Brazil Charges Bolsonaro With Plotting a Coup After 2022 Election Loss www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/w...

Trump Is Using a Familiar Playbook to Erode U.S. Press Freedoms The experiences of other backsliding democracies demonstrate the dangers facing U.S. media freedoms during his second term.

Experiences from backsliding democracies highlight the threats that the Trump administration poses to U.S. media freedom.

@saskiabr.bsky.social & Margot Treadwell examine three of these dangers in their newest for @wpr.bsky.social⤵️

Trump Is Using a Familiar Playbook to Erode U.S. Press Freedoms The experiences of other backsliding democracies demonstrate the dangers facing U.S. media freedoms during his second term.

For @wpr.bsky.social, Margot Treadwell & I highlight 3 strategies Trump is using to erode independent media:

➡️ Chilling effects through vilification, barriers to access & lawsuits
➡️ Exploiting the media sector's economic vulnerabiities to exert control
➡️ Cultivating alternative information channels

124. The Thursday Night Massacre(s) Two very different episodes on Thursday provide growing evidence of a Department of Justice that is showing less respect, by the day, for the rule of law.

The new DoJ leadership seems to think that “the policies of a democratically elected President and a Senate-confirmed Attorney General” take precedence over a Justice Department lawyer’s oath … to the Constitution."

www.stevevladeck.com/p/124-the-th...