Naledi Pandor, Minister for International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 28, 2019 [File: AP/Richard Drew] Democracy is under pressure across the world. According to the latest annual report by Freedom House, a United States-based non-partisan think-tank, the balance is shifting further “in favour of tyranny”. In the report’s assessment, 2020 was the 15th consecutive year of declining global freedom. This dire picture is confirmed by other studies. In the 2020 edition of its Democracy Index, The Economist Intelligence Unit recorded the worst state of global democracy since the index was first published in 2006.