"In current trends we see the echoes of problems faced 90 years ago as the world slid unfortunately towards war. It is appropriate, therefore, that we consider the implications of democratic backsliding today in various states, not least within ‘the land of the free’. However, given contemporary globalization we would also be remiss to focus only on the crisis of democracy in specific states, or the implications for governance in specific regions. Indeed, the crisis of liberal democracy today is not confined by national borders. It spreads like a virus across globally interconnected media platforms that reinforce doubts about the value of democracy, rights, and the norms on which global governance has been structured. Deploying data from 156 interviews with leading academics and practitioners in the field of peace work collected over two phases (2018-19 and 2024-25), this paper will illustrate how the past and present actions of liberal democratic actors have undermined their own normative influence over time, resulting in the increasingly diminished legitimacy of democratic norms. This is indeed happening domestically throughout ‘The West’, but how it is viewed and experienced by ‘The Rest’ will have huge implications for how we govern the world of tomorrow."