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Politics

نهاية الديمقراطية؟

Aug 31, 2020 Ana Palacio

مدريد– في عام 1947، بعد عامين من تدمير هيروشيما وناجازاكي بفعل الهجوم النووي، أطلقت نشرة علماء الذرة "ساعة يوم القيامة" لقياس مدى اقتراب العالم من نهايته - وتحفيز العمل على "إعادة الزمن إلى الوراء". اليوم، يجب النظر في الحاجة إلى إنشاء ساعة لإظهار مدى قرب ديمقراطياتنا من الانهيار. بخصوص ساعة نهاية الديمقراطية، نحن نقترب بسرعة من منتصف الليل.

تقوم الديمقراطية الليبرالية على فكرة مفادها أن الأفراد الذين يتصرفون بعقلانية لمصلحتهم الخاصة سيحققون نتائج جيدة. لكن كل جانب من جوانب هذه الفرضية قد تآكل في السنوات الأخيرة. بداية، فإن ركود الدخل على نطاق واسع وزيادة عدم المساواة، خاصة منذ الأزمة المالية لعام 2008، لا تُشكل نتائج قد يختارها معظم الأشخاص العقلانيين.

علاوة على ذلك، أدى تراجع الثقة في المؤسسات إلى تقويض الظروف التي يحتاجها الأفراد لاتخاذ قرارات مستنيرة. تم اختيار وتجاوز وسائل الإعلام التقليدية - التي كان من المتوقع منذ فترة طويلة أن تعمل بمثابة حراس للمعلومات- من قبل المصادر الإلكترونية، والتي يشجعها نموذج أعمالها على جذب القراء من خلال استغلال معتقداتهم واهتماماتهم، غالبًا من خلال نشر معلومات خاطئة أو مُضللة.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 22 Comments on this article

P. Kamath Sep 6, 2020

“.... As the nineteenth-century Italian politician and state-builder Giuseppe Mazzini noted, a liberal democracy can take root and flourish only if it is founded on duties, not just on rights. Citizens must be connected to one another by a higher cause....”

I wonder if Mazzini had in mind ethical and moral fibre in domestic and foreign policies of a nation!
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Paul Martin Sep 6, 2020

Is liberal democracy worth saving?
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Curtis Carpenter Sep 3, 2020

"The key to success – and democratic resilience – is to foster a stronger connection between government and society. That, in turn, requires a more robust understanding of citizenship."

I certainly agree with Ms. Palacio's point here, but would point out that building a stronger connection between government and society is difficult when one of a country's two significant political parties defines itself by embracing the principle that "government is the problem."

Replacing the authoritarian's "only I can fix it" with a democratic "only _we_ can fix it" will not be easy. And may not be possible at all at this point in the United States. Trust destroyed is not easily restored.
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Robert Wolff Sep 2, 2020

Bottom line is that the historical amicable reciprocity relationship between the 'Owners of America' and the 'Workers of America' is disintegrating.

My conclusion is that it is mostly the fault of the Owners, that they are concentrating political economic power under their Owner Class as they take it away from the Worker Class. The owners seem to be quite happy with the trend and the workers are understandably upset.

The "Obligation of Citizens" for the good of the Country and all Americans was first breeched by the Owner Class as they rejected responsibility to the American Working Class because they favored more wealth and power for themselves over National Security and Socio-Economic Stability to preserve the interests of all Americans.

The Nation is now polarized with irreconcilable differences between Workers and Owners, and the split appears to be a permanent feature of the New America.

Nobody, Workers or Owners, are going to be happy with one another again for a long, long time.
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toca Gomes Sep 2, 2020

We need a social democracy and not a liberal democracy because we need social and economic policies that are centered on people and not on data and figures. We need a social democracy that promotes a share prosperity. We need a social democracy not a liberal democracy because we need to preserve the common good that liberals and neo-liberals have destroyed. To rebuilt a citizenship, we need to fix the hope destroyed by politics that neglected people. We need to put human dignity and well being abover economic and financial benefits.
- Robert Wolff Sep 3, 2020
  
  You are seeing reality correctly, but fail to recognize the irreconcilable difference between workers and owners.
  
  I talked to the wife of an Army Colonel who had just visited her sister who was the wife of legendary ITT CEO Harold (Hal) Geneen, and she and her husband were terribly depressed. Hal had told them that, "Pride is no good". She said, "If you don't have pride, what have you got?" I was embarrassed to answer her question, "Money!"
  
  But that is the gist of the social rift in America today. The rich have money, earned in exchange for their pride, and everyone else has lost their pride also.
  
  Shame on America.
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Michael Public Sep 2, 2020

"individuals acting rationally in their own interest" Sociologists show that roughly the bottom 90% of individuals act out in accordance with the incentives of the system, often ingrained into habits - hence they are not individuals at all, but much closer to sheep. Right now, the system is driven by an outrage generating partisan media on both sides of the aisle. Outrage might sell clicks, but it can also throw civil war into the deal for free.
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Brian G Sep 1, 2020

Liberalism has gone too far and it producing (even calling for) anarchy. On my lifelong union Dem fathers grave I have never voted for a Republican President. But here in NYC our Mayor makes numerous regrettable decisions. I believe Trump will win.
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Godfree Roberts Aug 31, 2020

So-called 'liberal democracies' are neither liberal nor democratic.

They are the tailings of nineteenth century free market utopianism that has ruined not only Western economies, but Western societies.

For a fascinating, gracefully written account of how this happened, read Karl Polanyi's 'The Great Transformation'.
- Robert Wolff Sep 2, 2020
  
  Totally agree. Also read Branko Milanovic. "Democratic Capitalism". Democratic Capitalism is just a misnomer for Plutocratic domination of the Government and its Institutions by the 1% Owner Elite.
  
  "Political Capitalism" in China, controlled by a competent Administrative is trouncing Western "Democratic Capitalism".
  
  Milanovic calls for a return to "People's Capitalism", i.e. a reciprocal relationship between Owners and Workers in America which satisfied both Owners and Workers before the Hyper Globalism that began in the late 1970's destabilized American Society.
  
  Unfortunately, American Workers and American Owners are now leading their constituents into Street Brawls over which of the two ideologies should guide and control the US Government. The ideological differences between Owners and Workers are irreconcilable, regarding their Class Interests.
  
  Consequently American Politics has now gone to the Streets of America.
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