Opening Plenary Session: Democracy, the Rule of Law, and the Future of International Arbitration

The Democracy Report 2026 finds that democracy for the average global citizen has fallen back to 1978 levels, with Western Europe and North America now at their lowest point in over 50 years and the United States losing its long-standing status as a liberal democracy for the first time in half a century. As the global rule of law landscape shifts, questions of judicial independence, legal certainty, and institutional trust are no longer confined to domestic politics. They reach directly into the world of cross-border dispute resolution.

This session opens with a presentation of the latest findings from V-Dem's Democracy Report 2026, "Unraveling the Democratic Era?", one of the world's most comprehensive assessments of democratic governance, before turning to a panel of leading practitioners who will explore how these global trends are playing out across different regions and legal systems. Drawing on perspectives from the United States, China, Hungary and the United Kingdom, the panel will examine what a shifting rule of law landscape means for parties, counsel, and institutions operating in international arbitration, and whether arbitration can serve as a stabilizing force amid mounting pressure on democratic and judicial institutions worldwide.