bout de papier, Vol. 31, No. 3 (2021), pp. 24–25
FREEDOM IN THE WORLD, THE 2021 ANNUAL REPORT of Freedom House, a US institution, carried the title, Democracy Under Siege. It noted with sadness that 2021 marked the 15th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. In 2020, its evaluation was that 82 countries were free, 59 partly free and 54 not free. The countries experiencing marked deterioration in their democratic outlooks outnumbered those with improvements by the largest margin recorded since the negative trend began in 2006. Whereas 31 countries had made positive advances in 2005, 45 countries had regressed 15 years later. The proportion of countries that Freedom House judged to be “Not Free” is now the highest it has been in the past 15 years.
The world may not have required the analysis of Freedom House to sense the trends away from democratic development and towards authoritarian government. Indeed, over the past year, oppressive and often violent forces had tipped the international order in their favour time and again, exploiting both the purported advantages of non-democratic systems and the weaknesses in certain ailing democracies. In several notable cases, flickers of hope were extinguished, contributing to a new global status quo, in which acts of repression have gone unpunished and democracy’s advocates have become increasingly isolated. We now face a world in which, for the first time in at least two decades, the international balance has been tipped in favour of tyranny, while proponents of democratic government have been placed on the defensive, facing heavy jail sentences, torture or murder in many settings.
Long-term democratic decline has also become a geostrategic issue. The proponents of the idea that democracy is inherently an inferior system of governance have included official Chinese and Russian commentators seeking to strengthen the international influence of their respective countries while escaping accountability for abuses. Both China and Russia became cheerleaders for the breakdown of democracy, and both are waging war against groups and individuals who had set out to reverse the damage of the past twenty years. Unfortunately, it came at a time of division and weakness within Western democracies, when even the United States, in the midst of four years of a dangerous presidency, could be counted among those states in which democratic practices had regressed.
Where do we begin to curb current trends and reconstruct an international commitment to democratic norms’? In the United States, the path has been cleared by the election of a new President, but serious challenges remain. As Freedom House noted, “the United States will need to work vigorously to strengthen its institutional safeguards, restore its civic norms, and uphold the promise of its core principles for all segments of society if it is to protect its venerable democracy and regain global credibility.”
For other countries that have regressed in recent years, like Hungary and Poland, the starting point is clear. Democracy promotion must begin at home, in the very countries that face the root causes of dissatisfaction with democracy but where the embers of support for the rule of law and democratic government still burn brightly. Those countries can be encouraged and assisted in moving forward, particularly those in the European Union, where the democratic idea is entrenched in laws and constitutional frameworks. Other democratic countries need to lead by example. They have to show the world the worth of fair electoral institutions, able judicial systems and strong democratic traditions.
A second point is also clear. Democratic countries need to offer support and solidarity to democracy activists, especially in countries in which activists face the most profound adversity. Their support must go beyond mere rhetoric. Supportive states need to consider a full range of positive and punitive measures, from financial support to free media of communication, to economic sanctions and the curtailment of business, aid and diplomatic ties with countries whose governments are part of the hostile cabal against democracy.
We should acknowledge that this is a long-term battle. Just as the slide towards authoritarianism began around 15 years ago, it may be another decade or more before reversing the autocratic trend can be assessed with any degree of confidence. In this struggle, there is no single roadmap to quick recovery. Nor should we underestimate the difficulty of the task. As one commentator noted recently in the Financial Times, “…if the West could not entrench freedom as the global standard when it was ascendant, it is hardly likely to as the balance of world power tilts increasingly eastward.”
A third point also requires reinforcement. The decline of democracy in the world is linked to many other issues on which the international community works each year, like human rights, support for fair electoral systems and the empowerment of women. We can’t give up the fight on these issues, in the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council and other international fora, even though victory on one issue may only be a tiny step forward in the larger struggle for democratic norms. Electoral observation has often been seen as a frail reed, offering too little in the way of tangible assistance. But in the OSCE and OAS, it is an important measure both practically and symbolically that democratic countries must continue to sustain. We should also be buoyed by US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ recent assertion that “at its best, democracy protects human rights, promotes human dignity and upholds the rule of law.” She emphasized the empowerment of women in strengthening democratic traditions in the US and beyond. Her words were important reminders that, although the struggle may be long and difficult, we can sow the seeds for the recovery of democracy worldwide.
Let’s consider each case of a frail democracy as a test case for democracy’s survival. What can we do to support democracy’s sustenance and growth? What indigenous forces can we marshal to ensure that the victory of democracy is sustainable over the long term? What can we learn from victory in one case that we can use to help in other cases?
We should not underestimate the struggle in which we are now engaged. It took centuries for the ideas of freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the integrity of the person to triumph in many countries. In those countries, the heritage of democratic government is something to be cherished and safeguarded. We should commit ourselves to the goal of ending the siege against democracy and revitalizing the global march towards free institutions and democratic government worldwide.
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 31, No. 3 (2021), pp. 24–25. Read the rest of this issue →
