To preserve our democracy
Bedansh Pandey, Staff Writer
Over the last decade, there’s been a disillusionment amongst citizens globally for democracy and democratic values. As per the recent study conducted by Economist Intelligence Unit on the worldwide Democracy Index, only 4.5% of the world population lived in full democracy by 2018 and an astounding 43.2% lived in a flawed democracy.
Scholars and economists have pointed out that civil liberties, which form the bedrock of democratic values, are continually being eroded. Even strong democracies have seen democratic practices and institutions weakening over the past decade due to this. And the modern generation of citizens is disenchanted with traditional political discourse, as political parties haven’t evolved and addressed the current socio-economic needs of the society. Overall, the world also lacks charismatic leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill or Jawaharlal Nehru who were able to galvanize people at the grassroots levels. Besides that, the global migration crisis is causing a great deal of apprehension which is being exploited by populist leaders to restrict liberty and civil rights.
Media, which plays the fourth pillar in an active democracy, is under tremendous pressure. Digital and social media channels, largely controlled by corporations and thriving on user-generated content, are the primary reason for the rise in fake news, where things get blown out of proportion very quickly, resulting in violent reactions. For example, in Gezi Park, Istanbul, a small and peaceful protest for environmental purposes turned into a mass hysteria where 22 people were killed and 8,000 people injured, primarily because fake news spread through social media channels.
Because of the overall disenchantment against the democratic system, people should have been demotivated to exercise their right to vote. But on the contrary, as per the same study conducted by EIU, political participation across the globe has been on the rise in the last few years. One key reason is, again, the social media channel, which has actively engaged people much more. With proper coaching, content moderation, and stricter laws, it can be further leveraged to propagate the core democratic values. Stricter laws against political corruption and illegal immigration are required, with the judiciary needing to have the independence to curtail such malpractices. There’s also a need for socio-cultural coaching for the communities to accept immigrants coming from different ethnic backgrounds and vice versa. Most importantly, the younger generation needs to be motivated to join mainstream politics. Modern-day issues cannot be resolved by age-old politicians, as people need to identify with their generation of leaders. For example, Finland is one of the highest-rated democracies with one of the youngest leaders at the helm.
Democracy is all about giving power to the grassroots level, and democratic values are not taught. In a world with corruption, fake news, and extremism, it’s important to educate the next generation on the importance of democratic value and how to execute it responsibly. After all, with great power comes great responsibility.
