In the grand architecture of democracy, institutions are its invisible skeleton — unseen yet indispensable. Political leaders come and go, ideologies rise and fall, and public sentiments shift with time.
But it is institutional sovereignty — the independence and integrity of state institutions that anchors the entire democratic order against the tides of chaos, corruption, and authoritarian drift. Without sovereign institutions, democracy is not a living system but a fragile performance; a structure that appears free on the surface while hollow within.
Why It Matters for Democracy and People’s Rights
A sovereign institution is the people’s ultimate insurance policy. When judiciary is independent, citizens trust that justice will not be a privilege of the powerful. When election commissions are autonomous, votes become sacred instruments of change. When parliaments operate freely, laws reflect the collective will, not the interests of a few.
The erosion of institutional sovereignty marks the beginning of democratic decay. Political capture of institutions leads to the weaponization of laws, the silencing of dissent, and the erosion of accountability. It transforms democracy into an illusion — a spectacle maintained through ballots but hollowed by manipulation.
Institutional sovereignty matters for democracy and people’s rights because, without it, the very mechanisms that transform citizens’ voices into action — from free elections to independent judiciaries — begin to fracture. Recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) show that in 30 member countries in 2023 only 39 % of the public had high or moderately high trust in their national government, whereas 44 % reported low or no trust. When trust in institutions dips, citizens become disengaged—and disengagement for democratic systems means fewer checks on power, lower accountability and weakened protection for fundamental rights such as free speech, equality before the law and participation.
Equally worrying is the trend that corruption remains entrenched globally, undermining institutional legitimacy and thus people’s rights. According to Transparency International, more than two-thirds of countries scored below 50 (on a 0-100 scale) in the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, signaling high levels of perceived public-sector corruption. When institutions become captured by vested interests, they no longer serve the public good—they serve power. In that context, procedural democracy (elections, parliaments) may remain intact on paper while substantive democracy (fair representation, equal rights, rule of law) collapses. Thus, maintaining sovereign institutions that operate independently, transparently and accountably is not just a bureaucratic ideal—it is the bulwark protecting people’s rights and the democratic bargain itself.
— Jaber, Academy of Analytics and Rsearch(AARes)