Democracy is facing a challenge to sustain as a form of government in the contemporary world. In 2008 economic crisis played a role in increasing the trust deficit on the national and global democratic institutions to explore and provide solutions to the challenges. The citizens in democracies are dependent on the leaders who blame elite and many voters rely on these speculative reports.
The policy of quick fixes is widely used to solve the problems of governance. The modern democratic system needs to balance between the mandate given to a leader and ensuring the rule of law. The leaders who have a majority claim they can topple systems and laws to serve their interests.
Generally, the populists along with their supporters are not in favor of the external influences and forces of globalization. The world has become interdependent and fluid. The democratic process has not benefited the working class but elite groups as well. According to experts, without active and educated voters it is difficult to develop a political culture. The system based on the principles of accountability and transparency is required to establish democracy as the form of government in the coming years. There is no viable alternative that seems to take the place of democracy.
Samuel Huntington predicted that democracy will spread from 1970s. It started with the Portuguese Revolution and ended with the Franco regime in Spain by the end of the Cold War. It has become as the most popular form of governance in the world. Similarly, the movements of democratization started in the Philippines and Sub-Saharan Africa. Democracy as a form of government will become a universal system. In the next decade, it will cause protests at China’s Tiananmen Square, in Russia, Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine to topple the authoritarian regimes. But it is not the case anymore because democracy is facing a crisis in wake of strong autocratic governments in the world.
The global debt crisis of 2008 has played a major in decline of civil liberties and democratic values. The authoritarian regimes are challenged in the process of democratization. Democracy has gained the stronghold in China in form of new economic and political system with the help of the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank. Iran adopts the norms of the international community by accepting restrictions on its nuclear weapons program. In Russia, Vladimir Putin is praised by politicians in Europe.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan got elected through the referendum. The constitutional changes in Turkey are made to overhaul the electoral system of Turkey. The recent amendments will finish the office of the prime minister and president will have the power to make laws. If the referendum is successful, Erdoğan can become president for two terms till 2029 without any election. People in general are reluctant to protest against the anti-democratic moves of the present government due to the crackdown against those who were involved in recent coup in Turkey.
In Poland, the Law and Justice Party came to power in 2015 have made constitutional changes in the Supreme Court. It raises the question how the court’s neutrality will be ensured and to sustain as independent institution without getting influence from state power? The government is using power to control over state media and politicized the bureaucracy by appointing people on political affiliations. The public protests in Poland are not able to stop their government from adopting undemocratic norms in their country. The democracy is facing a serious threat for its survival and become a most stable form of government in the contemporary world.
The resentment in civil society has legitimacy, but it is not effective in all cases. A sense of anger and helplessness has increased over the potential of state institutions to resolve problems of governance. For example, US presidential election, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders represented the right and the left. They focused on interest groups including the corporate sector powerful lobbies that are strong in terms of their influence.
According to the Francis Fukuyama who argued in his essay “The End of History,” the government has become a technical process and failed to provide solutions. There are some moments of democracy that are new followers for liberal democracy including the Arab Spring, the Obama campaign of 2008, the Mateo Renzi in Italy or Alexis Tspiras in Greece. They wanted to bring positive change by promoting the equitable development. In terms of governance, they advocated technocracy. Liberal leaders except for Justin Trudeau have to face opposition. Another example is Angela Merkel, who after Barack Obama has a potential to become the leader of the liberal West. However, she is in power for around eleven years. Merkel is isolated if we compare it with the cases of Orbán, Trump, Erdoğan, and Putin in the contemporary power politics.
The weak position of the United States and its democratic allies at the international level has played the significant role in the decline of the democratic governments. Due to ineffective policies to deal with challenges related to governance. Furthermore, the decrease in the “hard power” or military might which is not effective in comparison to the soft power. The influence of soft power has the far-reaching effect and it is cost effective for small countries. The use of soft power has increased the stakes of small states in contemporary power equation of 21 century.
According to the recent article titled Authoritarianism Goes Global which explains how Russia, China, and other authoritarian countries have used the soft-power and multilateral coalitions like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to change the global norms contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They have replaced the democratic norms with the state sovereignty and revival of nationalism. They have neutralized their civil society with restrictive NGO laws and banning the indigenous civil society groups in defending democratic norms at international level. To conclude, the crisis of democracy gains pace in wake of globalization and revive nationalism in contemporary world.