Decline of Democracy (II)
Written by Alfonso Elizondo
According to Michel Wieviorka, democracy has not yet triumphed in Europe. Since the collapse of communism, the Russians have endorsed an authoritarian form of power that is able to respond to economic needs and the push by the nationalists. When a country is subjected to a real or induced threat, the leaders respond by trampling on the fundamental principle of separation of powers.
On the other hand, according to Daniel Zovatto, in the last 40 years Latin America has made great strides in democracy, although there are still significant shortcomings, symptoms of fragility and challenges. But there are reasons to be optimistic even though they have not reached the final goal. So you could say that the region is ‘halfway’ there.
According to Richard Joseph, the spread of liberal democracy in Africa has been held back by multiple factors, among them the rise of China, Russian authoritarianism, jihadism and the link between the market economy and undemocratic governments.
Now we turn to China with its political model that is different from Western democracies. According to Ivan Krastev, this country is subject to an overly authoritarian political regime, but unlike Russia it has a system based on the principle of collective leadership that prevents personalist authoritarianism.
In addition, its policies allow greater self-correction than Russian policies. But the fact is that neither China nor Russia can serve as models of democracy.
Addendum: It is very difficult to formulate a definitive hypothesis of what will finally happen to democracy in the world, but everything suggests that it will go through a very complex phase and perhaps will disappear forever from the face of the Earth.