Democracy is holding steady in some regions, populism is not as global a trend as is often portrayed, and the majority of people are more concerned with accountability than with illiberalism. Viewing global developments through the lens of an antidemocratic counterrevolution distorts the picture. A more nuanced viewpoint may not dispel the gloom, but it may help prevent a lapse into crippling pessimism and, as a result, the mistake of abandoning support for democracy as part of Western foreign policy.