The narrative constructed here is fundamentally a *crisis-mongering* play, leveraging a long-term decline to amplify immediate anxieties about global instability and the supposed failure of democratic institutions. The framing – “20th consecutive year” – deliberately emphasizes the scale and duration of the problem, creating a sense of overwhelming urgency. The report isn't simply documenting a decline; it's constructing a *narrative of systemic collapse*, using a universally recognized metric (...