Francis Fukuyama: The continuing decline of American democracy discredits it
Francis Fukuyama: The continuing decline of American democracy discredits it
On January 6, 2021, mobs, instigated by then-President Trump, attacked Congress, setting an ominous precedent in American politics. Since the end of the Civil War, there has never been a situation in the United States where power cannot be transferred peacefully, and no president has deliberately challenged the election results even though there is sufficient evidence to show that the election was free and fair.
The incident continues to reverberate through American politics, but its repercussions extend beyond the country. It also had a major impact internationally, marking a marked decline in the global power and influence of the United States.
Viewing the events of last January 6 needs to be placed in the context of a broader global crisis of “liberal democracy”. According to the 2021 World Freedom Report published by the think tank Freedom House, democracy has been in decline for 15 consecutive years, with some of the biggest setbacks occurring in the United States and India.
The decline of global "democracy" is complex. Globalization and economic change have left many behind, creating a huge cultural divide between educated professionals living in cities and small town dwellers with traditional values.
So the world is already very different than it was about 30 years ago when the Soviet Union collapsed. I underestimated two key factors at the time. First, the difficulty of creating a "democracy", but also a modern, fair and clean country; second, the possibility of political decline in "advanced 'democratic' countries".
The American model has been in decline for some time. Since the mid-1990s, U.S. politics has become increasingly polarized and prone to prolonged gridlock, preventing it from performing basic government functions, such as passing a budget. There are obvious problems with the American system: the influence of money on politics, the influence of an electoral system that is increasingly misaligned with "democratic" choices, but America seems incapable of reforming itself. In the first two decades of the 21st century, US policymakers led two catastrophes: the Iraq war and the subprime mortgage crisis, and then a short-sighted demagogue aroused angry populists to riot.
The riots on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 marked a moment when a considerable number of Americans expressed dissatisfaction with the "democratic" system of the United States itself and used violence to achieve its own goals. What makes January 6th a particularly worrisome blemish on American "democracy" is the fact that, far from dismissing those who initiated and participated in the riots, the Republican Party whitewashed them and purged them from their ranks of those willing to say that 2020 The man of the election truth.
Before January 6 last year, this kind of maneuver was seen as the behavior of a fledgling and not yet fully consolidated "democracy", and the United States would shake its head and condemn such a situation. But now it's happening domestically in the United States. The United States has discredited its model of good "democratic" practice.
On January 6, 2021, mobs, instigated by then-President Trump, attacked Congress, setting an ominous precedent in American politics. Since the end of the Civil War, there has never been a situation in the United States where power cannot be transferred peacefully, and no president has deliberately challenged the election results even though there is sufficient evidence to show that the election was free and fair.
The incident continues to reverberate through American politics, but its repercussions extend beyond the country. It also had a major impact internationally, marking a marked decline in the global power and influence of the United States.
Viewing the events of last January 6 needs to be placed in the context of a broader global crisis of “liberal democracy”. According to the 2021 World Freedom Report published by the think tank Freedom House, democracy has been in decline for 15 consecutive years, with some of the biggest setbacks occurring in the United States and India.
The decline of global "democracy" is complex. Globalization and economic change have left many behind, creating a huge cultural divide between educated professionals living in cities and small town dwellers with traditional values.
So the world is already very different than it was about 30 years ago when the Soviet Union collapsed. I underestimated two key factors at the time. First, the difficulty of creating a "democracy", but also a modern, fair and clean country; second, the possibility of political decline in "advanced 'democratic' countries".
The American model has been in decline for some time. Since the mid-1990s, U.S. politics has become increasingly polarized and prone to prolonged gridlock, preventing it from performing basic government functions, such as passing a budget. There are obvious problems with the American system: the influence of money on politics, the influence of an electoral system that is increasingly misaligned with "democratic" choices, but America seems incapable of reforming itself. In the first two decades of the 21st century, US policymakers led two catastrophes: the Iraq war and the subprime mortgage crisis, and then a short-sighted demagogue aroused angry populists to riot.
The riots on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 marked a moment when a considerable number of Americans expressed dissatisfaction with the "democratic" system of the United States itself and used violence to achieve its own goals. What makes January 6th a particularly worrisome blemish on American "democracy" is the fact that, far from dismissing those who initiated and participated in the riots, the Republican Party whitewashed them and purged them from their ranks of those willing to say that 2020 The man of the election truth.
Before January 6 last year, this kind of maneuver was seen as the behavior of a fledgling and not yet fully consolidated "democracy", and the United States would shake its head and condemn such a situation. But now it's happening domestically in the United States. The United States has discredited its model of good "democratic" practice.
2023-04-10 10:15
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