Crisis of the democratic model. A worldwide problem?
Since 2007, by declaration of the United Nations General Assembly, the International Day of Democracy has been celebrated every 15th September. Understood as both a process and a desired objective, democracy can only become a reality with the full participation and support of the entire international community, national governing institutions and the civil society. In the same vein, in 2015 world leaders committed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to create the conditions for the strengthening of good governance and the rule of law, considered essential for sustainable development, reaffirming previous commitments made at the 2005 World Summit and in the Millennium Declaration.
In accordance with what has been outlined by E. Gentile, it can be affirmed that it includes not only the democratic method (a principle provided for in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights according to which the will of the people is ‘the basis of the authority of government’) but also the democratic ideal (enshrined in the 1945 United Nations Charter) which consists of ‘faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small’ with a commitment to “promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, and to that end to practise tolerance and live peaceably with one another in good neighbourly relations”. Both must be realised if democracy is to be fully realised, and periodic elections cannot be sufficient to realise this.
In contrast, nowadays, after the ‘third wave’ of democracies – a process that led to the 20th century ending with the largest number of democratic governments in human history – we are confronted with multiple crises – economic, social, climatic, of political legitimacy – that have been eroding this apparently no longer unbreakable cycle. With the risk of a gradual loss of support for the current form of the model and the consequent deterioration of its quality, this recession implies a global risk, and is unfolding – to a greater or lesser scale – in all regions of the world.
In relation to this, the World Economic Forum in its Global Risks Report 2024 warned that the decline of trust in institutions, political polarisation and a volatile geopolitical scene could combine and limit cooperation to address global risks, particularly climate and current conflicts. They also found that disinformation and misinformation – most often enabled by the use of social media – are key threats to electoral processes and therefore to the legitimacy of governments, with the potential to also exacerbate social and political divisions.
In this regard, in the context of the European elections from 6 to 9 June 2024, a survey on Youth and Democracy was conducted with young people between 15 and 30 years old. The results showed that 38% believe that voting in elections is the most effective way to make their voice heard by decision-makers, and 32% believe that participation in social networks is the most effective way to do so. They also confirmed that in many countries there is a large disparity in voter turnout between younger and older people, with a consistent decline in political disengagement among younger generations.
In the same order, the Latinobarómetro 2023 Report found that Latin American democracies have also become more vulnerable in recent periods. As previously mentioned, these tendencies are universal, and recent years in Latin America have confirmed a systematic decline in the population’s commitment to democratic regimes and values and a steady increase in indifference towards other more authoritarian models, accentuated among younger people, due to structural reasons that have not been remedied and that deepen the decline in support for the model.
In that context, this election year in many countries around the globe will also serve as a barometer of the general health of democracy and will shed light on new and emerging – and increasingly systemic – challenges around disinformation, participation and electoral integrity.
The current questioning of democracies, human rights, and other consensuses reached in the last half of the twentieth century, make this day an opportunity to remind us that it must be about focusing on people and that the democratic ideal that constitutions and international conventions oblige us to comply with is always current and valid.
Democratic recomposition must be based on the guiding principles of equality and non-discrimination, pillars of any democratic system and a fundamental basis for the progressive advancement of human rights, with a comprehensive approach to protect democratic processes around the world in an era of disinformation and polarisation, with the creation of new spaces for strengthening and transparency, and movements for greater citizen participation, discussion and the creation of memory.
Federica Carnevale, FIBGAR collaborator.
30th September 2024.
