In a community center in East London, about 20 men gathered for their regular lunch meeting, sipping coffee and tea from mismatched mugs and engaging in an increasingly popular pastime in the world鈥檚 democracies: Complaining about their government.
They feel estranged from the country鈥檚 leadership 鈥� its wealthy prime minister and their members of parliament.
鈥淚t feels like you are second-class people. Our MPs don鈥檛 represent us people. Political leaders don鈥檛 understand what we go through,鈥� said Barrie Stradling, 65. 鈥淒o they listen to people? I don鈥檛 think they do.鈥欌��
In a coffee shop in Jakarta, Ni Wayan Suryatini, 46, bemoaned the results of the recent election, in which the son of Indonesia鈥檚 former president ascended to the country鈥檚 vice presidency and the opposition parties seemed to do little to stop him.
鈥淚t is difficult to trust them since they only want to reach their goals. As long as they achieve their goals, they will forget everything else,鈥� Suryatini said of politicians.
And inside her cheerfully cluttered craft shop in Greeley, Colorado, Sally Otto, 58, contemplated with dread the upcoming U.S. presidential election between President Joe Biden and the man he defeated in 2020, former President Donald Trump: 鈥淚 feel like we鈥檙e back where we were, with the same two poor choices,鈥� Otto said.
As half the world's population votes in elections this year, voters are in a foul mood. From South Korea to Argentina, incumbents have been ousted in election after election. In Latin America alone, leaders and their parties had lost 20 elections in a row until this past weekend鈥檚 presidential election in Mexico, according to a tally by Steven Levitsky, a Harvard professor of government.
The dynamic is likely to repeat itself as the European Union launches its legislative elections this week, where conservative populist parties are expected to register gains. EU parliamentary elections are usually an opportunity for voters in individual countries to vent their frustrations because the candidates they elect will have power in Brussels rather than their own national capitals.
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鈥淚n many ways we鈥檝e never had it so good, objectively speaking, and yet people are so unsatisfied,鈥� said Matthias Matthijs, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.
The reasons for the dissatisfaction are many, from social media鈥檚 ability to magnify problems to the painful recovery from the coronavirus pandemic to the backlash toward economic and cultural changes sparked by globalization.
Though in places like Europe the populist right has notched several gains, there is little ideological consistency globally to the unhappiness. In a recent Pew poll across 24 democracies, a median of 74% of respondents said they didn鈥檛 think politicians cared what people like them think, and 42% said no political party represented their viewpoint.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about economics and culture, but it鈥檚 also about the functioning of politics itself,鈥� said Richard Wike, managing director of Pew鈥檚 Global Attitudes Research. 鈥淚t can lead to a situation where politics is seen as a zero-sum game. People see more of an existential threat from the other side, and that makes people unhappy about democracy.鈥�
Experts say there is one notable exception to the trend of global anger with elected leaders 鈥� places where the leaders are anti-establishment, populist strongmen.
鈥淎ntisystem outsider, populist figures are winning more than in the past,鈥� Levitsky said. 鈥淲hether they constitute any movement is unclear to me.鈥�
In Mexico, leftist President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador is termed out but broke the streak of losses for Latin American leaders鈥� parties as his hand-picked successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, won Sunday's presidential election. In Argentina, newly elected president Javier Milei, a self-described 鈥渁narcho-capitalist鈥� dubbed 鈥渢he madman鈥� by admirers, remains popular despite the country鈥檚 crippling economic problems that have persisted following his austerity and deregulation reforms.
鈥淚 was never interested in politics because nothing ever changed,鈥� said Sebastian Sproviero, a 37-year-old engineer at a Buenos Aires concert that featured Milei belting out rock anthems. 鈥淣ow it has.鈥�
In India, where Prime Minister has been criticized for eroding the world鈥檚 most populous democracy, the Pew poll found the country had the highest support among all surveyed countries for a more authoritarian form of government, with two-thirds of respondents there backing a strong leader system.
Still, even some of the more authoritarian governments such as Modi鈥檚 have had to deal with dissatisfaction with the status quo. Modi appears to have won his third term as India鈥檚 prime minister in national elections that wrapped up Tuesday, but his conservative Hindu nationalist party had an underwhelming showing and will likely need to join a coalition to form a government.
The global anti-incumbent mood, coupled with the success of anti-establishment populists, comes amid warning signs for democracy. Pew found democracy鈥檚 appeal slipping even as it remained the preferred system of government around the world. Freedom House, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that promotes democracy, said its 鈥淔reedom Index鈥� measuring democratic health globally has declined for 18 straight years.
Adrian Shahbaz, a vice president at Freedom House, attributed the erosion of support to a series of crises since the turn of the century, including the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the U.S., the 2008-09 global recession and the coronavirus pandemic. Adding to the stress, he said, is the increasing focus on identity issues such as transgender policies and immigration in democratic politics, especially in Europe and the U.S.
鈥淭he key cleavages in democracies tend to be around identity issues rather than economic ones,鈥� Shahbaz said. 鈥淭hat in itself can be very risky because democracy depends on a civil identity that goes beyond tribal identifications.鈥�
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Riccardi reported from Denver, DeBre from Buenos Aires and Kirka from London. Associated Press writers Gary Fields in Washington, Justin Spike in Budapest and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta contributed to this report.
