Abstract: This project examines whether backsliding in regimes that have undergone varying degrees of democratization from authoritarian rule in the third wave of democratization is comparable to that in consolidated liberal democracies, or whether these are fundamentally different phenomena. It reviews the four features of democratic backsliding identified in past literature: the erosion of democratic norms, the tilting of the electoral playing field, and executive aggrandizement, all of which generate specific responses from opposing candidates, parties, and the mass public. By proposing this new typology, this paper aims to bring countries without competitive electoral systems, including China and Russia, into the discussion of democratic backsliding. The project also clarifies the conceptual difference between autocratization and democratic backsliding, and illuminates the connection between the two waves of scholarship on democratic backsliding and democratization.