An organization that promotes democracy around the world reports representative government in further decline, threatened by disputed elections, fewer citizens voting, foreign interference, disinformation and the use of artificial intelligence in campaigns. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) found erosion in democratic indicators in nearly half of the 158 countries it surveys annually. It listed numerous challenges in the U.S., noting that nearly half of Americans still do not believe the 2020 election was “free and fair,” a consequence of Donald Trump’s Big Lie.

In the second of my exit interviews with Maryland’s retiring senior senator, Democrat Ben Cardin, I asked about the report. My interview with Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was edited for clarity and brevity.

DR: IDEA warns about a decline in civil liberties and the rule of law in several nations, including the U.S. What’s at the root of the backsliding?

BC: It feeds into a lot of different areas. It’s backsliding on protecting democratic values, the freedom of expression. It’s the decline of journalism. It’s now fair game to try to suppress votes as part of an election strategy. It’s also in the way we finance campaigns today. With the Citizens United [decision of the Supreme Court], you can get a special interest to contribute an unlimited [amount of money] to try to influence elections. So all that has really weakened fundamental democratic institutions. …The best example, of course, is the progress that was made in Hungary being almost completely eliminated under Viktor Orban. We’ve seen backsliding in other countries. We see that right now in the Republic of Georgia. We, of course, see the total erosion of democracy in Venezuela. At one time, every country in our hemisphere had a democratic state, except for Cuba. Now, more and more countries are backsliding in our own hemisphere. … We’ve seen a constant decline in the number of people in this world that live under democratic states.

DR: What can be done about it?

BC: We’ve tried to develop U.S. foreign policy to provide economic support for democratic institutions. It’s a very small budget. We tried to increase that budget. The main fuel for autocratic leaders is corruption. I’ve gotten legislation passed that requires our embassies now to judge how well every country is doing in fighting corruption… The sanctioning of regimes can help to a certain degree. …This is something that keeps me up at night as I try to figure out additional strategies to deal with the trends around the world.

DR: What pressures are on countries where we see backsliding? Refugees and immigrants moving from country to country seem to create pressure.

BC: There are a lot of pressures that feed into extremist governments. You see that in the United States: ‘If you’re not like me, you’re a threat to our country.’ So you get that fear factor that leads to allowing autocrats to take away rights and maintain a stronger control. We saw that under President Trump. … If you can convince people that our Democratic system is not working — and that’s what Donald Trump was trying to tell us, that he won the election and the Democratic system failed to crown him as our leader — there’s a following that says, ‘We don’t have to respect democracy, we don’t respect our democratic institutions, and therefore we can take matters into our own hands,’ and that means it’s OK to protest, it’s OK for a little bit of violence to take place. It becomes extremely dangerous.

DR: Maybe people are saying that democracy is not that important, that there are easier ways to have a government.

BC: Look at [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Chinese] President Xi. Their major objective is to say, ‘Democracies don’t really work. It’s benevolent, strong and autocratic leaders who are really concerned about your welfare.’ …Russia and China’s objective, under current leaders, is to control the world order through their systems of government. Xi wants to win the war of economics. But a government-controlled economy believes in corruption, stealing intellectual property and using child labor. So we’re fighting for democracy and we’re fighting for market-controlled economies.

DR: Is there any place you see a yearning for democracy?

BC: I see that all over. I’m optimistic, I have hope. I [honored] Vladimir Kara-Murzan [former political prisoner] who’s speaking out for a free Russia. I had a chance to talk with Maria Corina Machado. [She is leader of the opposition to Venezuelan autocrat Nicolás Maduro, who remains in office as president despite the widely recognized July election of Edmundo González Urrutia.] These are people putting their lives on the line. The trend lines have been very dangerous, but we’ll win because of the human spirit. I will always remember talking to President [Volodymyr] Zelensky early in the Ukraine war. There’s a love for independence, and that love is never going to be extinguished. It will always be there until democracy prevails. It’s the same thing in America. We might get setbacks, but that love for democracy and independence, that’s never going to die in America. So we’re going to remain a democratic stronghold, but it’s going to have its challenges. We’ve seen over time that can manifest itself in a civil war, in a great depression. There are times that we’ve been challenged, we’ve seen that on 9/11. We saw that on January 6. We’ve been challenged. We’ll bounce back.