Process
Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Highlights
id550536109
Support for democracy is not in decline because voters are being brainwashed by enemy propaganda on TikTok. Support for democracy is declining because democracy is simply not working the way we were told it would.
id550536122
Firstly, the combination of capitalism and democracy was supposed to bring prosperity and progress to all nations that adopted them. For a brief time after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when globalization went into overdrive, this seemed a believable story.
id550536162
The financial crisis brought this collective delusion to an end in the Global North. Members of the generation that came of age during the crisis of 2008 have had to adjust to the reality that they are unlikely to be better off than their parents. But even before the financial crisis, the Asian crisis of the late 1990s showed many in the developing world that opening up one’s markets to international capital could be a recipe for disaster. Some combination of authoritarianism and market controls seemed like the natural response
id550536186
Secondly, the progress brought by democracy and capitalism was supposed to give rise to yet more democracy. Checks and balances would put an end to corruption. An educated population would choose the “right” leaders. And rather than campaigning based on outdated ideologies, those leaders would compete for votes by appealing to the “median voter,” bringing moderation to previously divided societies.
id550536212
Instead, corruption is on the rise, ideology is back, and people keep picking the “wrong” leaders.