I have a new column today on OnlySky. The next four years in America promise ongoing outrages against decency, the rule of law, and competent governance. But even as the United States fails the democratic test, other countries seem to be doing better.
In South Korea, a would-be autocrat came close to seizing power and turning the country into a military dictatorship, but South Korean society stood up to the attempted coup and prevailed. Meanwhile, in Syria, after decades of brutal dictatorship and years of violent civil war, the Assad dynasty has dramatically fallen. While knitting the country back together will be an immense task and the rebels may still fail to establish a new government, the Syrian people have the chance to choose their own destiny for the first time in a long time.
The lesson to draw is that, while democracy can fail, autocracy doesn’t necessarily do better. Neither is inherently stable. Both kinds of states can fall, and both can rise, for reasons of their own.
Read the excerpt below, then click through to see the full piece. This column is free to read, but paid members of OnlySky get some extra perks, like a subscriber-only newsletter:
That democracy depends on the consent of the governed is both its weakness and its strength. When it works well, democracy is the best form of government. It creates stability, peace, freedom and opportunity. But every generation has to choose whether to renew the democratic compact, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll choose well.
People can come to take democracy for granted, ignoring threats out of complacency or normalcy bias, and support strongmen or fascists who have designs on seizing power. Alternatively, they can grow disillusioned and come to believe it’s incapable of solving their problems, electing candidates who promise to burn the system down. When these things happen, democracy can rot from within or turn on itself.
But autocracy can also fail. It happens all the time.
Leave a Reply