In the fast-changing world of digital communication and economic globalisation the existing forms of governance, including the democracy, seem to be finding it hard to adapt themselves to new challenges or to respond satisfactorily to the growing unrest of new publics that are made to contribute to governance and public welfare without reaping proportionate benefits or even a share in an effective representation of their needs and woes.
Electoral procedures tend to become a periodic farce and ethically ambiguous with subtle and timely manipulation of electorates. The so-called separation of powers that was thought to ensure the rule of law and justice, is seen to be increasingly eroded by politicisation of judicial institutions and by a consequent judicialisation of politics and legislative options. As a result, growing numbers of citizens have been losing respect and faith in their politicians and state institutions.
Francis Fukuyama, a management guru turned political analyst, had been quick in 1989 to present the fall of the Berlin Wall as the end of Cold War and a final victory of neo-liberalism over the giant communist rival of the post-World War times. He did not hesitate then to title his book The End of History (1992) to expand his earlier essay with a hurried and provisional analysis.
Francis Fukuyama has very recently revised his understanding of world politics and has presented his updated and a much more balanced picture, a far cry from his earlier euphoric vision, in a new book entitled Identity: The demand for dignity and the politics of resentment (2018). With the risk of over-stepping the limits this column, I wish to provide a very brief summary of his new analysis and recommendations.
There is a surge presently and on a global scale, of populist, nationalist and authoritarian governments. Trump’s slogan “America first” is an expression of the new populism which seeks to address directly the “people”, bypassing the limits imposed by the institutions of democratic states: courts, parliaments, independent media, and independent bureaucracies. Putin in Russia, Erdogan in Turkey, Orbánin Hungary, Kaczynski in Poland, Duterte in Phillipines, and the latest arrival ofBolsonaro in Brazil are the faces of the new trend.
Why this democratic recession?What could have gone awry with the liberal democracies? Fukuyama believes that the modern democracies have failed to satisfy the demands for identity by their citizens. The same applies to inter-States relations. Some countries consider themselves sidelined or ignored, and choose to adopt aggressive nationalistic policies.It is somewhat like the attitude of the religious believers who feel their creed belittled and threatened, and resort to violence to win attention and respect.
The populist trend has been growing since 2000. Besides this phenomenon, there are some other indicators to be noticed, and they too point towards growing inequalities. Between 2000 and 2016, half of the North-American population saw its income reduced,while between 1974 and 2018, nearly 1% of the population saw its income growing from de 9% of GDP to 24%. Globalisation has been responsible for these disparities, and they are growing alarmingly, excluding more and more people from the benefits of development.It is the middle class that has become increasingly smaller. According to IMF data the average salaries ranging between 50 to 150 % saw a drop from 58 to 47% of the population during 2000and 2014. India needs a similar comparative study in time for the coming general elections.
Alongside the increase of populist regimes and increasing inequalities there has been a change in the political trends since the second decade of the 21st century. Throughout the 20th c. the left-wing politics concentrated on inequalities and in defence of the workers, and their rights for association and just and equitative salaries. The right-wing politics sought in the meantime to reduce the State interference, and to promote private initiative. Neither of these traditional political trends seem to have discovered the new minorities withmore urgent need of respect and defence of their identities.
Fukuyama believes that we cannot abandon the idea of identity. He recommends a redefinition and reshaping of a traditional ethno-cultural identity into wider and more inclusive identities, such that correspond to the real diversity of the democratic societies. Politics that seek to reinforce the traditional ethno-cultural and religious nationalism can only result in marginalising further the various minorities and breed resistance and violence.
The dominant political trend in India has not figured in most recent studies of populism, but it has not entirely escaped the watchful eyes of the analysts of world trends. The latest available Democracy Index of 2017 attributes the rank of 42 to India. It appears classified as “Flawed Democracy” with low marks in electoral procedures, political culture and civil liberties. But considering its subcontinental size and diversity of population the world community looks at India with hope to outgrow its constraints and grow stronger as a model democracy.
The writer is the founder-Director, Xavier Centre of Historical Research. Goa (1979-1994).
