“Peace. Human rights. Dignity for everyone Equality. Justice. Solidarity. Solidarity.
The Russian military’s invasion in Ukraine makes Guterres’ message for the U.N. General Assembly even more relevant. What were those things that he described? These are the bedrock principles of democracy, a once-onwardswing method for human governance that has been gaining ground in recent years.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion is a furtherance of the anti-democratic trend. This has seen some elected strongmen push their countries towards dictatorship and ignore once solid democratic norms. They are collectively trying to pound at the door of democracy’s delicate house.
The invasion is “certainly a watershed occasion for the future global democracy,” declares Stephen E. Hanson (a professor of government at William & Mary College, Virginia) and the author of “Post-Imperial Democracies,” which examines Russia’s situation after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Recent years have seen the rise of a few people who some call dictators within democracies, including Putin, Rodrigo Duterte from the Philippines, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Narendra Modi, Viktor Orban, and Jair Bolsonaro. This has slowly chipped away at the outer limits of democratic systems, while still speaking the talk of democratic principles. It seems that democracy appears to be the new form of democracy.
Donald Trump, the US president, has raised similar concerns. These fears were fueled by his claims of a stolen election. This has prompted efforts to amend state laws to restrict access to polls and to stock election administration positions with allies. It is arousing fears that a fair and free vote could be lost in a nation that was once a beacon for democracies around the globe.
This is the problem: These leaders have been elected by their people or at least by democratic-style systems. “Globally, populists who undermine democratic norms have gained greater traction in elections in the past 20 years,” states Douglas Page,, a political scientist at Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania.
Leaders of traditional authoritarian governments, who also call their systems democratic have contributed to this gradual rebranding. Even Xi Jinping in China, who was never a democrat has managed to transform his nation’s mix of communist tenets, market economy, into a personality driven rule that is presented like democracy.
Putin offers up a dark face of democracy when he orders the invasion Ukraine in a way that tacitly invokes democratic principles, while he also circumvents them. Experts believe this is to cover him as a democratic leader in his own country while allowing him to do whatever he wants abroad.
“He is not an authoritarian leader, but he does hold some space on the democratic scale. He doesn’t have all the means to oppress his people. He still has democratic elements even though they are vanishing,” states Stefanie Kazparek, an assistant professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania, who studies international political institutions.
Putin is not a person who worries too much about being democratic. He has spent many years in Russia stifling public opinion and opposing political parties. In fact, he jailed the leader of an opposition party, Alexei Navalny who was declared a terrorist by the Kremlin last month. Kasparek says that there are still democratic elements that he cannot ignore.
This was demonstrated Tuesday, when Russia’s Federation Council, the upper legislative body, voted unanimously to allow Putin the right to use military force in foreign countries. Putin was able to claim that his actions were supported by democratic systems in his country, despite the fact that the request was largely pro forma.
“Democracy was the reason Putin was in power in the first instance and has served him significantly as a tool for keeping power,” Crystal Brown,, a political-social scientist at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts, who studies the effects of institutions on global political system, stated in an email.
Why is democracy, or at least the appearance of it, so important, even when leaders’ actions appear undemocratic? It is a complicated question.
Putin’s case is a shining example of a re-aggregation and glories of the Soviet Union. However, Putin is also playing to a domestic audience. This includes many people who have turned their backs on this same collection of republics from communism-era — and in some cases, used democracy as a North Star. They see the principle as important.
Putin uses raw power to externalize his authority, in all facets of his approach in Crimea and the online attacks against U.S. election results — and is thus able to ignore the West, which claims to be democracy’s standard-bearer. He is restricted internally by the support he requires from Russia’s enemies of dictatorial power.
This two-pronged approach is not just for Putin. It involves making a statement of support for the very principles one is violating. This has been seen in other countries, sometimes with chaotic results.
For example, Trump’s false allegations of fraud in the 2020 American election won by Joe Biden — an attempt at destroying a democratic process – helped fuel the fury that led to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack against the U.S. Capitol, by supporters seeking to reverse the result. Trump maintained that he was the champion for democracy and not one who hindered it.
Hanson states, “Everywhere these men make a similar basic argument: The Neoliberal Order merely pretends it is democratic when in reality it is run and controlled by the Deep State who conspired to steal from ordinary people. They also plan to undermine the social order through destruction of traditional moral values.”
He said that they are the “unique saviors” of the traditional nation and demanded unconditional loyalty from those who serve them. “One of the most striking developments in the 21st century is the fact that such a recipe for destruction of democratic institutions around the globe has been so effective,” he said.
What does the unfolding Ukraine story mean for democracy? Biden insists that the outcome is certain. “In the contest between democracy, autocracy and sovereignty, make no mistake: freedom will prevail,” Biden stated in an address on Thursday.
It was obvious to him. However, the reality is less certain due to recent events — including those that led up to his inauguration. Democracy doesn’t always prevail. Even when democracy does succeed, it isn’t always able to last forever. This lesson, much like the Cold War, extends far beyond what’s going on in eastern Europe right now.
“The world doesn’t want to get into large-scale conflicts. Kasparek states that this gives leaders a lot more freedom to push the boundaries of democracy without being democratic. It’s essentially a game of chicken.
Democracy is, in this metaphor, the car. The problem with playing chicken is that eventually, you will crash.
