As a teenager growing up in Istanbul, I was lucky to be part of a generation that had democratic role models nearby. European countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Sweden fueled our aspirations for prosperity and democracy, giving us hope for the future of our own imperfect polity. These countries' experiences showed us that economic growth, social justice, and political freedom were not only compatible but mutually reinforcing.

Where will today's youth look to find a similarly hopeful message?

Liberal democracy once seemed destined to be the wave of the future. But now, democratic backsliding is a global phenomenon, with Donald Trump's America only the most visible and dramatic example. Since the early 2010s, "electoral autocracies" (regimes that hold periodic elections, but under conditions of pervasive repression) have become the dominant form of government around the world. Nearly 220 million fewer people live under liberal democracy today than in 2012.

A form of regime that can pave the way for liberal democracy, "electoral democracies" have also lost ground, governing 1.2 billion fewer people today than in 2012. These regimes have been replaced by electoral or outright autocracies, which now rule over 5.8 billion people (2.4 billion of whom have been added since 2012).

As a beacon of democracy, Europe no longer shines as brightly. The European Union (EU) played a major role in anchoring democracy during Eastern Europe's transition from socialism, with Czechia and Estonia becoming some of the highest-ranked liberal democracies in the world. But many others, notably, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, have regressed significantly, and the EU has been powerless to do anything about it.

Slovakia's Prime Minister, Robert Fico, recently joined Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and two dozen other authoritarian leaders in Beijing to help President Xi Jinping celebrate Chinese military prowess.

Leading European countries can rightly claim that their democracies have not taken as big a hit as America's. But Europe today projects neither economic strength nor political cohesion. Its self-confidence seems to have hit rock bottom, as exemplified by how the EU has caved to Trump's tariff threats. European leaders long hoped that integration would enhance the region's power and influence on the global stage. Instead, the EU seems to have turned into a permanent halfway house that fosters paralysis. Its institutions and processes discourage countries from acting boldly on their own, but lack the capacity to formulate and pursue a common vision.

While democratic Europe fails to project influence beyond its borders, those who do exercise power on the global stage are no longer role models. Few would have expected the United States to have taken such a sharp authoritarian turn, yet Trump has transformed the country into a rogue actor almost overnight. He has also made it easier for China to pose as the responsible adult in the room, and Xi has gladly donned the mantle of "sovereign equality," "international rule of law," and "multilateralism."