A make-or-break year for democracy?
Dear all,
It’s Politics Enrichment week and in Monday’s assembly we considered how important 2024 is when it comes to democracy, given that there are no fewer than 65 countries (including 8 of the 10 most populous) where elections will be taking place, involving 4.2 billion people. At first glance, this seems like something to be celebrated – more than half of the world’s population being invited to choose the leader, political party, or movement they want to run the country in which they live. However, many commentators point out that an increasing number of leaders and politicians have made or want to make their countries less democratic. Some even argue that 2024 may be a make-or-break year for democracy. More than half of the 65 countries where voting will take place this year do not meet the definition of ‘free and fair elections’ according to the Democracy Index, which is compiled by The Economist.
Although elections will take place in Russia, they will be neither free nor fair, and Vladimir Putin will seek – and win – his fifth term of office as President. In India – the world’s biggest democracy – Prime Minister Narindra Modi is running for reelection for a third term in office. The organisation ‘Freedom House’, which monitors democracy around the world, has downgraded India’s democracy rating from ‘free’ to ‘partly free’ due to government crackdowns on its opponents, the media and the Muslim minority. And of course, November looks likely to see a rerun of the last US Presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, four years after the Capitol riot on 6th January where protestors refused to accept the result and sought to overturn it, and at a time when former President Trump is facing over 90 charges for various alleged offences.
The rapid development of AI may also threaten democracy, with deep-fake audio and video clips likely to flood social media in an attempt to discredit opponents and strengthen support for candidates whose instincts may well be fundamentally undemocratic.
Winston Churchill once said that ‘democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms of government that have been tried from time to time.’ What he meant, of course, is that democracy has flaws, can be incredibly frustrating, and is undoubtedly imperfect, but it’s also far better than the alternatives. Throughout the lives of almost everyone who reads this blog, we have known nothing other than democracy, but we are in the minority when it comes to living in a largely free and fair country and an even smaller minority with regard to the history of humanity. That can make us complacent but, as I said to the students in assembly on Monday, we can ill afford to assume that the right to speak freely and choose those who lead us is the way things will always be, and it’s up to every one of us to defend those freedoms.
Have a great weekend
Best wishes
Michael Bond
