Dazed democracies

 

The democratic world is in a crisis. The concept of freedom is warping due to the tug-of-war between liberals and conservatives within the democracies. As per the latest trends, the far-right radicals are targeting the leftist liberals as if they are the scourge of democracy.

Radical conservatives are becoming more popular. The conservative leaders are basically the showmen playing with the jugglery of rightist ideologies. Their swashbuckling hysterics create excitement and passion among the masses on the basis of religion, nationality, immigration, or anything that can create insecurity and false pride in the masses. They sell dreams in hyperbolic terms. Jingoism. Drama. Lots of noise. Nothing much is done on the ground. But in shouting, yelling and raising banners, the people think they are contributing to make their nation great.

The leftist liberals accomplish far more things at a natural pace, bring out real change. But all this may go down as nonperformance given their subdued intonation. A classic example is the work style of PM Manmohan Singh and PM Modi. The former with his unassuming persona actually brought about real effective change on the surface. The latter has built a high-pitched public avatar of himself, which is disproportionally too big for the little change that has actually happened on the ground for the common man.

The major world democracies are shifting to radical rightist control under powerful monopolist leaders who find democratic institutions and consensual obligations too limited and confining to operate. They are pushing at the edges of democracy to give it a new shape. They are spreading their cult to the fringes of electoral autocracy. The spirit of democracy is seriously strained. The far right conservatives are looking to melt the democratic iron fence and take their newly created space to meet China-type communist authoritarianism.

These macho leaders feel suffocated by the checks and balances of democratic institutions. They find the leftist liberals bigger enemies even than the non-democratic authoritarian rulers. No wonder, one can feel that Trump and Modi are more at ease with Xi and Putin.

Democracy seems like a bloated amoeba. A part of it (the rightist conservatives) is trying to cut itself off from the main body and merge with the authoritarian regime. And in countries where this is happening, the people are slowly getting habituated to a new set-up. They still believe that it’s the very same old democracy. It’s out of habit that they still believe that nothing has changed even though so many things have changed gradually just in a decade. The fundamental character of once autonomous institutions is slowly giving way to a new normal where their political misuse is the new norm.

Oligarchs—in both democratic and authoritarian world—are in close brotherhood across the ideological divides. They are like a dismembered amoeba, having different limbs in different countries but still sharing the same soul even though there is no physical contact. They are a great cementing bond between the far right democratic politicians and the dictators in shadow regimes. Oligarchs would always prefer a closed, manipulated politico-economic system. It’s beneficial to their unique regime. No wonder they would naturally support and finance radical, rightist authoritarian leaders who will mold the economic environment for oligarchy’s smooth passage.