What’s Spookier than Halloween? Zombie Democracies 

Image via PEN America

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Halloween is just around the corner, with spooky and creepy decorations adorning our media and culture. But no matter how many horror movies you watch, nothing is scarier than zombie democracies. Kenneth Roth defines zombie democracies as “the living dead of electoral political systems, recognizable in form but devoid of any substance.” In zombie democracies, elections are held, but they are not legitimate. Zombie democracies differ from traditional dictatorships because in zombie democracies the government holds elections and the people somewhat expect them, though there is no substantive value to elections. Whereas, in traditional dictatorships, the rulers do not even bother to have elections. 

Though they look different, zombie democracies and dictatorships function and act very similarly. Dictatorships are defined as a form of government in which one person or a small number of people hold power without constitutional limitations. Zombie democracies function like dictatorships where a small group of people or one person controls the government, but they make much more of an effort to keep up a facade by holding periodic elections, but the results are predetermined. Leaders of zombie democracies want their countries to look on the outside like all other democracies, but upon further examination, they partake in actions that democracies would not tolerate. 

Belarus is an example of a zombie democracy; it is located in Eastern Europe bordering Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Aleksandr Lukashenko is the president of Belarus and has been since 1994. Two years into his presidency, he passed a revised constitution. The new constitution allowed him to stay in office for longer and granted him more rights, including the ability to appoint one-third of the upper house of parliament. On January 26, 2025, Lukashanko claimed to win his seventh presidential election with 87% of the vote. This is a characteristic of zombie democracies. The leaders will rig elections in order to win, but want to seem as if they held a legitimate election, so they alter the results of the elections in the hope of making it seem more believable. Leaders hope that altering the numbers will make the win seem more legitimate and authentic. The United States, which was given a score of 81/100 on the Freedom House scale, a system to track and quantify the democratic authenticity of a country, had a much closer presidential election. Donald Trump won the election by receiving 49.8% of the popular vote, and Kamala Harris got 48.3% of the vote. In the United States, the president could lose the popular vote and win the election, like in the 2016 election. In democracies, all citizens have a voice and an opportunity to choose who they would like to be their leader and represent them. Democracy is not cut and dry, and oftentimes it is a bit messy, because everyone has a voice and a chance.

Zombie democracies also partake in undemocratic behavior that is looked down upon by functioning democracies, behaviors that democracies deem to be illegal. For example, Lukashenko’s opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has been forced to live in exile in Lithuania after she ran against Lukashenko. Her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, spent five years in solitary confinement for standing up to Lukashenko. The taking of political prisoners and violence and coercion are distinctive of authoritarian regimes, not democracies. Lukashenko uses violence and threats to silence his opponents and keep control of Belarus. Donald Trump’s opposition does not live in exile and is allowed to criticize him, while the same cannot be said for Lukashenko’s opposition. 

Zombie democracies are becoming more prevalent in the modern world, with global freedom declining for the 20th year consecutively. They hope to hide under the guise that they are democracies. It is our responsibility as citizens of the world to hold these world leaders accountable. If their tactics continue to be enabled, we are all at risk of being victims. 

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This article was edited by Ella Cohen, Jack Gonzalez, and Hayley Dunn.