The number of democracies recovering from backsliding is likely to become an important trend over the next years. These countries are confronted with several challenges on their path to a lasting democratic recovery. To navigate through the challenges the post-authoritarian political landscape poses, governments employ different strategic approaches that are explored in this thesis. The field of democratic recovery is evolving, yet theoretical foundations and empirical studies are largely missing. This thesis aims to bring light into the dark by providing a novel analytical framework that categorizes the government strategies to democratic recovery into a cautious and an aggressive approach. Illustrated with a case study of the United States, the framework is used to categorize the recovery strategy of the Biden administration. The findings suggest that the US-government chose a cautious path to recovery, which, despite achieving an impressive economic agenda, lost the support of the Democratic base and left democratic institutions vulnerable.