Beyond the Headlines: How Democracy Persists in Challenging Times

Written by: Maya Radwan and Allison Ralph 

With each new headline, it feels like the world teeters on the edge: political instability, war, climate disasters, attacks on civil rights. The sense of perpetual crisis has become a defining feature of life in the United States over the past decade. For the pro-democracy movement, President Trump’s attacks on the rule of law, the Constitution, and the nonpolitical civil service are concerning. And against this backdrop, some are beginning to ask: Where is the pro-democracy movement? Where are the protests? Where is the action? 

That question reveals more about what we expect protest to look like than what’s actually happening on the ground. 

In fact, even before the Hands Off protests of April 5, there have been more street protests in early 2025 than during the same period in 2017. Research by Erica Chenoweth and her team finds that the number of protest events has doubled compared to eight years ago. In February 2025 alone, over 2,000 protests took place in the United States—covering everything from support for federal workers to supporting economic reforms, alongside calls for environmental justice. These protests are smaller, more local, and often strategically timed. But they’re happening. 

So why has it felt like nothing is going on? 

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Part of the problem is what we might call the "spectacle bias": our sense of whether resistance exists is often shaped by whether it grabs national headlines or floods downtown DC with pink hats. Movements that don’t conform to this script risk being dismissed as nonexistent. But democratic participation doesn’t have to be grandiose to be real. In fact, some of the most effective forms of civic resistance and action are deliberately small, local, and persistent. Allison recently wrote about the power of local civic action for maintaining the health of democracy here. 

Another reason people might overlook resistance is the feeling that we’re always on the edge of disaster. Since 2016, American civic life has felt like a continuous state of emergency: a deeply divisive election, a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, escalating climate disasters, and multiple wars abroad. This steady drumbeat of crisis creates what journalist Amanda Ripley calls the "high conflict" state—where everything feels urgent, binary, and overwhelming. 

This kind of cognitive overload is not just emotionally exhausting—it’s also bad for democracy. When people are constantly bracing for the next catastrophe, they stop noticing the quieter, constructive work of civic engagement. Worse, they may disengage entirely, believing that nothing they do matters. 

To counter this, we need more than just resistance against authoritarianism. We need new ways of seeing. And that includes surfacing moments of democratic resilience that do exist. 

Before we get too far, we should make clear that we are promoting democracy over politics. At Cohesion Strategy, we promote cross-partisan and pluralistic solutions, rather than partisan outcomes. That is why we engage with cross-partisan actors for fair government across the political and ideological spectrum. We lift up the resistance against the current president because this administration is violating the U.S. Constitution.  

The Rise of Noncooperation  

Chenoweth and her co-authors point out another crucial shift: protest is no longer just about marching. Economic noncooperation—strikes, boycotts, buycotts, and divestment campaigns—is gaining traction. It’s harder to measure, and harder still to suppress. But the impacts are real. Tesla, for instance, has seen a measurable stock hit amid protests and sell-offs following Elon Musk’s political entanglements. 

This strategy isn’t new. We've seen it throughout history. Before the American Revolution, colonists practiced noncooperation by chucking tea into the Boston harbor long before they picked up arms. In the civil rights era, lunch counter sit-ins and bus boycotts hit local economies and forced a national reckoning. 

Some private institutions have adopted their own measures in response to government policies. For example, a decade ago, certain Catholic schools chose not to include contraceptive coverage originally required under the Affordable Care Act in their health plans, citing religious beliefs. A legal challenge won their right to continue doing so. 

Today’s shift back to these tactics reflects a strategic response to new political realities: increased surveillance, the chilling effect of arrests, and a Congress less responsive to public outcry. In some ways, this is an adaptation rooted in long experience. Movements are learning how to protect their people while still exerting pressure. 

What This Means for Democracy Work 

At Cohesion, we often say that civic health isn’t measured only by voter turnout or legislative wins. It is equally evident in the ways people engage with their community—connecting with neighbors, supporting the vulnerable, and collaborating constructively with local government.  

That work is happening—sometimes quietly, sometimes imperfectly—but it’s there. Although Chenoweth’s team doesn’t publish the ideological bent of the protests they track, the sheer numbers suggest widespread public engagement. That’s worth recognizing on its own terms: a sign that people still care, still act, and still believe they can make a difference. 

Shifting the Narrative: Spotlighting What’s Working 

This is where solutions journalism comes in. Instead of only highlighting the chaos and dysfunction, solutions-oriented reporting lifts up what’s working: organized challenges to voting restrictions to coordinated civic efforts like Democracy 2025 that bring together hundreds of organizations to defend core democratic processes. These moments aren’t always front-page news. But they reflect a democracy that hasn’t stopped working. 

In fact, we’ve seen a series of wins in recent weeks that challenge the doom-loop narrative: 

• Legal Pushback on Voting Restrictions: A coalition of 19 state attorneys general filed suit against a federal order requiring proof of citizenship to vote and restricting mail-in ballot deadlines. Their lawsuit highlights how state-level institutions are actively defending fair access to the ballot. 

• State-Level Elections: The Wisconsin Supreme Court election offered a quiet but powerful affirmation of electoral accountability. Despite record-breaking outside spending, voters showed that electoral integrity can prevail over financial influence.  

• Formation of Pro-Democracy Coalitions: Over 450 organizations have joined forces under Democracy 2025 to defend core democratic norms—like voting access and judicial independence—through collaborative legal, educational, and organizing efforts.  

• University-Led Institutional Independence: With federal funding increasingly used as political leverage, some universities are exploring alternative financial strategies, including issuing bonds or drawing from endowments, to maintain institutional independence. While no university has formally rejected federal funding, this shift signals deeper questions about academic autonomy in a politically charged environment.  

These may seem like modest victories, but they matter. They push back against the myth that everything is broken and remind us that many people, across ideological lines, are still working to preserve democratic norms. 

So the next time someone asks, "Where is the resistance?" — let’s ask back: Are we looking in the right places? If we focus only on spectacle, we may miss what’s actually building momentum. 

From courtrooms to campuses, coalition halls to statehouses, people are still stepping up, sometimes in quieter, more strategic ways. And that might just be where the future of democracy is being shaped.