In light of the new Democracy Shield policy’s whole-of-society approach to security and democracy, this policy brief edited by PATRIR analyses the EU’s emerging democracy strategy, focusing on the rule of law. It argues that the prevailing democracy-authoritarian policy narrative is increasingly vulnerable to a vision of democracy (and rule of law) and has underestimated the political, socio-economic, and institutional dynamics reshaping democratic life in Europe. By recoding the rule of law as stabilising enforcement and resilience rather than a contested democratic element, this approach risks transforming dissensus into a legal and security risk and normalising exceptional measures under ordinary governance.