All indices agree: authoritarianism is spreading all over the planet, and the pandemic is accelerating this process. According to international organizations, Spain is one of the countries where democratic quality is declining the most
The covid pandemic has accelerated a worrying trend that started after the 2008 financial crisis: authoritarianism is growing in the world. The virus has prompted strides in freedoms, and according to the Democracy Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), 54.3% of the world’s population already lives in regimes ranging from moderate authoritarianism to the pure and simple dictatorship. Only 6.4% enjoy a ‘full democracy’, a label Spain lost this year. “In 2017, it was about to fall into this category because of the response in the form of legal measures taken by the central government against the pro-independence leaders after the Catalan crisis. Now the reason lies in the deterioration of judicial independence, especially due to the delay in the election of the CGPJ magistrates,” explains the EIU.
Freedom House comes to the same conclusion in the report ‘Freedom in the World’. The number of countries improving their political framework is decreasing -2021 recorded the lowest number, 25-, and the opposite is happening with the group losing democratic quality -73 in 2020 and 60 in 2021-. For example, the NGO claims that only 20.3% of the world’s population lives in a free environment, 26 percentage points less than in 2005. And it is the pandemic that has slowed the gentle decline of the past 16 years. a free fall.
“The outlook is not good, because we published the report on February 24, coinciding with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That is a good example of what can happen when there is no democracy,” said Amy Slipowitz, Head of International Research at Freedom House, from the United States.
The International Institute for Democracy (IDEA) confirms all of the above. Half of the 173 countries it analyzes have lost democratic quality. Among them is Russia, already described as an authoritarian regime for its “special military operation” and forced recruitment of up to 300,000 troops.
This is a situation that is also reflected in another conclusive fact: in the last five years, the number of protests worldwide has increased by more than 100%. María Silvestre, director of Deustobarómetro and professor of sociology at the University of Deusto, agrees and makes a qualitative analysis: «After three crises -the economic crisis of 2008, the covid crisis and the invasion of Ukraine- we live in a insecure society, characterized by growing inequality added to the dissatisfaction and lack of confidence in the institutional system”. All this, he says, leads to a society “that ceases to dream of a better future”, and in which the population “seeks the certainties that traditional politics do not give them, engaged in debates far from their interests, in populist leaders and authoritarian .
Esteban Beltrán, director of Amnesty International in Spain, adds that “the pandemic, corporate greed and nationalism” have “deepened an inequality that creates more instability and a corrosive breeding ground” perfect for more authoritarian leaders who ” tend to silence dissidents”. and “using technology for invasive purposes”. The human rights NGO provides a list of 67 countries that have introduced laws in recent years to restrict rights and freedoms such as expression or demonstration: in Spain, Beltrán points to the Gag law approved in 2015, which despite promises from the Socialist Party, remains in effect. “It happens with governments from the right and the left,” he adds.
Silvestre cites Donald Trump or Jair Bolsonaro as champions of this movement that “legitimizes a turn towards authoritarianism”, but also European far-right parties such as Vox. «They propose simple, direct and practical solutions to complex problems. In this way they give their followers a false sense of security,” adds the professor. Slipowitz is of the same opinion. “Emerging populisms promise solutions that democracy does not provide. Usually they revolve around campaigns against minorities, from migrants to the LGTBI collective,” he emphasizes. Voters reduce this complex, uncertainty-dominated world to a contest between heroes and villains as they search for saviors. And their strategy, according to Beltrán, includes “demonizing vulnerable groups to convince the public that they are to blame for the issues that rightly concern them, from economic issues to loss of identity.”
While there are instances where the quality of democracy is rapidly deteriorating, Andrew Stroehlein, Communications Officer for Europe at Human Rights Watch, believes that decline usually happens in small steps. Hungary is a good example. Viktor Orbán has followed Turkey’s or Russia’s manual to progressively erode democratic institutions, from judicial independence to civil society liberties, and concentrate power in their hands,” he explained from Brussels. It is a process whose results are visible in the perspective of several years ‘and which often seems irreversible’. Fortunately, Stroehlein notes that it is a relief that the European Union has responded to Hungary, “whose model Poland copied”.
Igor Ahedo, principal investigator of Parte Hartuz and professor of political science at the University of the Basque Country, is convinced that this is “an authoritarian drift that had already been predicted” and draws on sociologist and former minister Manuel Castells’ theories to improve the situation. to explain: “Traditional legitimizing identities are about to collapse due to the uncertainty caused by globalization and the drift of the neoliberal model, which emphasizes the economic interests of the most powerful”.
Ahedo affirms that there are two models for combating the status quo: “The reactive, typical of liberal movements that build trenches and attack democracy, as Trump or Bolsonaro have done; and the proactive ones, who try to build bridges and rebuild the system in search of justice and equality, as happened with 15-M, the Arab Spring, or the ‘me too’».
According to him, it is a mistake to suppress these movements, because it paves the way for the far right. “The political class has not delivered. It is time to make a pact to save democracy, because it is no longer a fact but a challenge,” he concludes, predicting that the authoritarian drift will continue.
Silvestre agrees. Asked about the role of the extreme left, she is exhaustive: “It’s not comparable, because it’s not that anti-system. It does not question the foundations of the democratic state, but rather opens itself to more progressive postulates,” he insists, highlighting the more moderate path Podemos has taken since ruling in coalition with the PSOE, “something Vox has not has done, for example in Castilla y León.
The Human Rights Watch representative warns that “we are forgetting what happened before World War II,” and Ahedo adds that “politics is falling into bar fights that are the breeding ground for attacks like Kirchner’s.” However, everyone agrees that this drift can be stopped. Ainhoa Novo, professor of Political Science at the UPV/EHU, is optimistic about it. “It is true that neither politics nor economics live up to the expectations of the population in the 21st century, but even in this context I believe it is not fair to speak of drift. I think we are in a process of stagnation. And there are reasons for hope.
Novo points to several points on the planet where things are improving: «Sudan, the replacement of the presidency of the United States or Brazil, the feminist movement in Iran, the constitutional change in Chile, or the concerted and strong response of the West to the Russian invasion. And he asks that the perspective is not lost and that all populisms are not put in the same bag, “because each has its own characteristics.”
“Democracy is not the goal, but a process that never ends and must be constantly taken care of,” Slipowitz summarizes. “And you can’t have democracy without human rights: if six out of ten people vote to throw you out the window, that’s not democracy,” Stroehlein illustrates. Beltrán agrees: «We must remember the consensus that was reached after World War II. We must fight for more egalitarian societies, because they are the most democratic, and we must remember that in a democracy, victory is not eternal.
Source: La Verdad
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