President Joe Biden is making the strengthening of democracy abroad a top priority. The past 12 months have been a turbulent period for human rights, the rule of law, pluralism, and progressive movements. Around the world democracy is in retreat, with the leaders and populations of many countries weighing the purported efficiency and consistency of more authoritarian regimes against the confusion, policy reversals, and social discord recently on display in the U.S.

The seditious attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 capped a wave of body blows against elected governments from Belarus to Burma that Western leaders need to deal with. Plans for a Global Democracy Summit are already in the works, an effort that aims to “to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the Free World.”

Critics argue that the U.S. must get its own house in order before it proceeds with such an endeavor, and their concerns are valid: America’s democratic leadership is predicated on its legitimacy at home and being the "shining city upon a hill,” as President Ronald Reagan, quoting a 1630 sermon by John Winthrop, eloquently called it. How can the U.S. hope to prevent democratic backsliding abroad if there are questions surrounding the consent of the governed? And yet, now more than ever, the free world requires collective action to tackle the growing specters of autocracy and totalitarianism.

Since June of 2019, protests in Hong Kong have raged against extradition amendments proposed by the Beijing-friendly SAR government. They continue with pro-democracy leaders and supporters in jail. While the Biden administration recently levied a number of sanctions on two Chinese government officials over continued human rights abuses against the country’s minority Uyghur population, the recent blow-up at the Alaska meeting between Secretary Anthony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and their Chinese counterparts demonstrated that Beijing will remain a formidable opponent to the American gospel of democracy.

In Belarus, after Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in the deeply flawed presidential election of 2020, protestors took to the street to voice their concerns over the election’s legitimacy. Suppression of opposition voices has given way to violent crackdowns on dissent, and most dissidents have either been detained or have sought sanctuary abroad. The crisis continues today.

Myanmar’s November 2020 elections saw the return of the progressive National League for Democracy coalition in a landslide, but the results were violently reversed by the military’s Feb. 1 coup d'etat. The crisis – resoundingly denounced by the leaders of the free world – brought a sudden halt to the country’s democratic transition.

Russia pulled its Ambassador to the U.S. earlier this month in response to President Biden’s remarks over Russian interference in the 2020 elections, the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexi Navalny, and its illegal occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea. Security agents using poison against democratic opposition leaders certainly demonstrates the dramatic differences between Russia and the West.

Amidst the current global democratic relapse, however, there are some reasons for optimism. In a remote corner of the world, in the heart of Eurasia, the country of Kazakhstan, once under the yoke of Soviet rule and then governed by its founding president Nursultan Nazarbayev for nearly 30 years, just celebrated its first peaceful democratic transition.

Following the resignation of Nazarbayev in early 2019, there was a maelstrom of speculation regarding the political trajectory of the country. These anxieties were eased with the election of former Prime Minister, Speaker of the Senate, and accomplished diplomat Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who in his first days in office laid out a plan for political reforms designed to bolster the country’s young democratic institutions and continued economic development.

Tokayev’s “continuity, justice and progress” measures have included successive legislative packages (2019, 2020, 2021) designed to strengthen civil society/engagement, crackdown on corruption, adopt more stringent laws protecting human rights, improve transparency, equal rights and enhanced political representation for women, and enact judicial and law enforcement reform.

As the country accounting for 70% of the GDP of all five Central Asian nations, Kazakhstan’s efforts to increase trade, development, and regional connectivity are particularly important as the countries of the region seek to recover from the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The vision of a more integrated, viable, and resilient Central Asia can be implemented only by joint efforts by all regional stakeholders, including the United States. As the Biden Administration works to regain trust at home and abroad and addresses America’s own-anti-democratic demons, it should also seek to encourage the efforts of any country moving forward towards a more transparent government in a dialogue with a stronger civic society.

Prof. Ivan Sascha Sheehan is the executive director of the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore. Opinions expressed are his own. Follow him on Twitter @ProfSheehan.

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