2024 was the year of elections, change, and upheaval. Where citizens could, they voiced their dissatisfaction through the ballot box, bringing change by exercising their democratic rights. While the nature and state of democracies varies globally, in sum nearly half of the world’s population went to the polls in 2024. In societies where authoritarians ruled — either through rigged elections or brute force — citizens also pushed back, successfully bringing about change that many political analysts did not expect at the beginning of the year.

This year of action — through ballots, protests, and uprisings — is evidence that the status quo is no longer acceptable to citizens all over the world. What comes next remains to be seen, but the fact is that 2024 will be remembered as the year in which the status quo governing the world since the end of the Cold War came to an end.

A perfect storm of discontent

The changes we saw in 2024 did not come about in isolation. The Global Financial Crisis had set in motion events that weakened the established order that had emerged since the end of the Cold War. The Covid-19 pandemic — a once-in-a-century crisis — further amplified discontent, despite the fact that governments spent trillions to prop up economies and protect their citizens.

Rampant inflation, caused in part by the scale of the stimulus that was unleashed all over the world, played a key role, as did the cost of living crisis caused by higher energy prices in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war. While those with capital became richer due to soaring asset prices, especially in the West, citizens living paycheck to paycheck suffered as the cost-of-living crisis intensified.

This then set the scene for 2024 being a monumental year of change, especially in democracies all over the world.

The United States, being the global hegemon and the largest economy in the world, drew the highest amount of attention as former president Donald Trump — a convicted felon who survived an assassination attempt — staged a dramatic return to the White House. It could be argued that Trump defeated not one, but two opponents, first by knocking out President Joe Biden on the debate stage, and subsequently, his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, on election day.

Trump’s victory came with a significant electoral margin, flipping key swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and reversing trends that had favoured Democrats in the previous election cycle. He made inroads into demographics that Republicans had long struggled to win over, including Black men and Hispanic voters. In places like Michigan, a sizeable Muslim population disgusted with the Biden administration’s policy towards Palestine, voted in favour of a candidate who in his first term had enacted a Muslim ban.

The message was clear: citizens in America were disillusioned with the political establishment.

But the United States was not the only democracy where the political establishment faced defeat. In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) lost its majority for the first time since apartheid’s end. The ANC’s share of the vote plummeted to just 45 per cent — a stark contrast to its historical dominance where it routinely garnered over 60pc of the electorate’s support. Decades of corruption and unfulfilled promises finally caught up with the party, marking a seismic shift in the nation’s politics.

In the United Kingdom, Labour’s Keir Starmer swept to power, ousting Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives in a landslide victory that saw the party secure its largest majority since 1997. In France, Macron’s centrism lost sway, with both the far-left and far-right making gains, while in Germany, Olaf Scholz’s coalition faced public backlash over economic woes and energy challenges, leading to a loss in the vote of confidence.

And in India, the world’s largest democracy, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recognised that anger was brewing against its policies as well, despite the fact that Narendra Modi secured a third term as prime minister. Concerns over democratic backsliding, youth unemployment, and minority rights meant that the BJP and its allies failed to garner their stated goal of winning over 400 seats in India’s lower house of parliament.

Change not just limited to democracies

The transparency of democracies means their messiness is visible to all. Free press and open institutions expose discontent in real time. However, 2024 also shook the very foundations of authoritarian regimes.

Nowhere was this more visible than in Bangladesh, where pent-up frustration over corruption and election manipulation exploded into protests that forced Sheikh Hasina’s dominant regime to collapse in weeks. Student protesters led the charge in Dhaka, with heavy handedness from law enforcement agencies causing hundreds of deaths in the streets. As discontent brewed, Hasina tried to push back but ultimately had to escape to India, where she remains to this day.

Even China was not spared from the chaos, with the economic slowdown caused by pandemic-era policies fuelling unrest. Recent weeks have seen attacks in China, unsettling the ruling regime and paving the way for a larger stimulus package meant to generate growth and calm citizens. Russia has also witnessed growing discontent, with reports suggesting that citizens are increasingly questioning Vladimir Putin’s policies as economic sanctions bite and the toll from the war in Ukraine mounts.

2024 also stored the biggest surprise for the end, bringing about the downfall of the despotic Assad dynasty in Syria. Ruling with an iron fist, the Assad regime had suppressed the Syrian revolution with brute force, relying on Russian jets and Iranian and Hezbollah militants to massacre their own citizens.

The desire to hold onto power was such that Assad had even used chemical weapons on his own people. At the start of 2024, the Syrian resistance forces looked spent, and Assad was being rehabilitated by Arab countries. The regime, however, collapsed in dramatic fashion towards the end of 2024, bringing to an end a brutal regime that has murdered hundreds of thousands of Syrians over the years.

A year of transformation for some, not all

Despite ushering in dramatic change, 2024 also failed to deliver for millions of citizens as well. This was most evident in a country like Pakistan, where citizens exercised their democratic right in the February 2024 general elections, but the status quo successfully resisted their choices.

These elections were unconstitutionally delayed by several months and were held while former Prime Minister Imran Khan remained in jail. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) even had its symbol taken away from it on the eve of the elections, but despite this setback, citizens voted in large numbers for the party’s candidates.

However, the status quo managed to come out on top, bringing to power a coalition that is seemingly favoured and backed by the country’s military establishment. Ruling without a popular mandate, the regime has doubled down on repression rather than reform, choosing to block the internet and threatening journalists, activists, and opposition leaders.

The regime’s survival highlights that the status quo can at times stem the tide and push back against the will of the people despite significant public dissent. However, the evidence from countries across the world, especially in South Asia, shows that authoritarian rulers can only survive so long without public support.

The events of 2024 underscore the power of collective action. Whether through elections, protests, or revolutions, citizens demanded accountability and change. Democracies grappled with their vulnerabilities, authoritarian regimes revealed their cracks, and the global political landscape shifted dramatically.

As the dust settles, one thing is clear: 2024 was the year dissatisfied citizens reshaped the world, proving that people’s voices remain the most powerful force for change. What comes next remains to be seen, especially in a country like Pakistan, where ordinary citizens increasingly want to exercise their right to vote and have increasingly become intolerant of being ruled without their consent.