My Take | Democratic decay in America will make it a growing global threat
- Creeping militarism and uncontrollable national debt will kill US democracy at home while making its behaviour abroad increasingly dangerous and destabilising
One of the most frequently cited creeds of democracy defenders is that if a government is bad, we can always vote it out and get another, better one.
Under strict conditions, that may be true, but it’s not so in all cases and circumstances. It seems for that to happen, you need a small-to-midsize country and population that is relatively racially homogeneous; with a healthy, vigorous and growing economy; and without a penchant for overseas adventurism, empire or hegemony. Militarism is almost always a bad sign, though it’s often hard to detect when it’s well-camouflaged by democratic lingo.
In the absence of those conditions, democratic decay is more than likely to occur over time; call it illiberal democracy, far-right extremism, fascism or just plain-old authoritarianism. Now I am not saying such a country will necessarily collapse or disappear. But without sustained and bold reforms, which are themselves extremely difficult and therefore unlikely, democracy will fade.
One of the problems talking about “democracy” is that we don’t usually mean the same thing. It’s easy to confuse what it is not with what it is. Well, it’s not republicanism, limited franchise and citizenship, or direct political participation. All these may be elements of democratic practices that have existed across cultures and societies, throughout much of history.
But representative (non-direct) democracy coupled with parliamentarianism and universal suffrage regardless of gender and race, is only slightly more than a century old. The data set is actually rather limited, unlike all previous forms of government.
Periodic elections make no difference
So, back to our favourite democracy creed: if this government doesn’t work, we can always get a new one in the next election.