Democracy was barely surviving. Now it is actively dying.

Edit: President Joe Biden is responsible for actively enabling the apartheid state of Israel to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza (2023). As every other US president before him, he is guilty of war crimes and has the blood of millions on his hands. The fact that he continues to remain the so called “liberal” alternative to MAGA Republicans and Trump in the 2024 elections is a serious indictment on the state of democracy (or lack thereof) in America. On the issue itself- Palestinians have an absolute right to exist and resist their brutal occupation. Israel has no right to exist as an apartheid state built on the ethnic cleansing (Nakba 1948-present) of Palestinians let alone the bogus right to self defence against a population it has put in an open air concentration camp.

Politics around the world has seen a tremendous transformation over the past half a decade. Major liberal democracies like the USA, UK and India have taken a sharp turn towards the far right. In India, it was the electoral victory of BJP, a Hindu nationalist party and its leader Narendra Modi in 2014 followed by his re-election as Prime Minister in 2019 with a bigger mandate. America saw the rise of Donald Trump and the Republican Party, the popular vote to Hillary Clinton notwithstanding while the UK decided to leave the European Union with the Conservative party consolidating power. Brazil, Turkey, Hungary and other countries are also facing a dramatic shift. The rise of illiberal authoritarians in liberal democracies with right-wing populist rhetoric eclipsing common sense and human decency has stunned many who now bemoan that democracy is dying a horrible death. Is it just losers crying foul? Or are they right? (pun intended)

Democracy as famously defined by President Lincoln is a system of government “by, of and for the people” has always been regarded as a political system that allows the people to elect their leaders. If this narrow view of democracy-simply the exercise of the people’s right to vote is considered, democracy is well and kicking. In fact leaders like Trump and Modi enjoy(ed?) widespread popular support. Political scientists use the term “democratic capture” to refer to the phenomenon where democratically elected leaders undermine democratic rights. Hence, we have to take a more comprehensive definition of democracy.

Democracy has three dimensions- the social, economic and political. Social democracy (different from the political system of social democracy that many Nordic nations adhere to) in the words of Dr. B.R Ambedkar refers to the recognition of liberty, equality and fraternity of all human beings irrespective of factors like race, caste, sex, religion and sexual orientation. Economic democracy refers to the equality of wealth and income amongst individuals. Finally, political democracy has four facets- free and fair elections, independent and autonomous institutions, accountability of public officials and political liberties such as free speech and assembly. It should be clear by now that no country, democratic or otherwise, fulfils or ever fulfilled all six of these parameters. Even critically acclaimed bastions of progressive politics like Denmark, Norway, Canada and New Zealand while moderately satisfying the requirements of political and economic democracy fail to reach the mark when it comes to issues like immigration or indigenous people rights- an essential part of social democracy.

Coming to the countries that are historically known for their commitment to democracy but have taken a wrong turn over the past few years- the United States, the world’s oldest democracy and India, the world’s largest democracy. The United States was founded on the graves of African slaves who continued to be denied their right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness until the abolishment of slavery in 1865. Their civil and political liberties were recognized much later in 1965. From the 1960s, there is a consensus in calling America the beacon of democracy especially in contrast to the dictatorial Soviet Union.

President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal which followed the Great depression and World War 1 was instrumental in ensuring economic equality. However, with President Reagan slashing corporate and estate taxes, economic inequality quickly shot up. In 2018, President Trump further reduced tax rates. Healthcare is still a luxury with millions of Americans suffering from a lack of insurance. The gains made from the Affordable Care Act during the Obama administration were rolled back with Trump eliminating the individual mandate and the Department of Justice subsequently claiming the whole act to be unconstitutional. And systemic racism as demonstrated by the recent police brutality and killings against Black Americans is something that still needs to be addressed.

Elections in America contrary to popular belief are neither free nor fair. People of color still face hurdles in exercising their voting rights because of voter suppression, purging of voter rolls and gerrymandering. Unregulated corporate funding to candidates is also a major hurdle. Additionally, the electoral college system puts the fate of an election in the hands of a few swing states preventing candidates who solely get the popular vote (Bush v Gore in 2000 and Trump v Clinton in 2016) to become president. Institutions like the federal courts, investigative agencies and special prosecutors have always been political appointees stripping them of any independence and autonomy, This is particularly true in the case of court appointees who have strong ideological leanings. This leaves only public accountability and political freedoms which are protected by the First Amendment of the constitution. And yes America’s status as a healthy democracy was derived from these two pillars alone. Come hell or high water, Americans could say what they wanted to about the government without fear of repercussions and assemble to protest. And while guilty rich white men almost always escaped the clutches of justice, people in power were held accountable for their actions either in courts or in elections. Until Trump came into the Oval Office. Not only did the former two conditions worsen, the latter ones too came under assault. President Trump and his party is attacking the postal service and working actively in the middle of a pandemic to undermine mail-in voting to deny thousands their right to exercise their vote. Supreme Court nominee Amy Barrett was hastily confirmed less than 10 days before the election despite Republicans refusing to move through with judicial nominations in the election year during Obama’s presidency. Trump fired FBI director James Comey who lead the investigation into Russian involvement in 2016 elections. He fired two Inspector generals and three acting Inspector Generals who are politically neutral appointees to oversee the executive branch. He also reportedly tried to fire special counsel Robert Muller. Rule of law which demands accountability from public officials was also subverted. Trump attempted to receive damaging information on the Biden family from Ukraine by withholding assistance. This along with Muller’s report suggesting Trump’s criminal obstruction of justice should have been grounds for his removal. His close associates and campaign officials who were indicted or found guilty were hastily pardoned. All this while he refused to cooperate with Congress during the impeachment process and threatened public officials who testified against him. Lastly, by ordering federal troops to use force on protesting Americans in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, Trump has proven to be an enemy of the first amendment.

Moving on to India. Despite constitutional safeguards for minorities; Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims are the most underrepresented and least economically forward social group. Political parties have long exploited this and formed vote-banks prying upon issues of caste and religion. On the economic side, India witnessed for the first time a decline in absolute poverty during the Congress led UPA period of 2004–2014. However, even then, the richest 1% held 58% of the total wealth. Today the number has worsened to 73% due to the crony capitalist policies pursued by the Modi government in the name of development.

India has never had a strong track record when it comes to political freedoms. While the period of Emergency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is often cited, periods before and after were never conducive for healthy democratic dissent. Central and State governments since the time of independence have acquired the colonial habit of imprisoning activists and leaders who dare to speak up against them. However with Modi in power draconian charges such as sedition and terrorism are baselessly used to arrest dissidents along with the impositions of tags like “anti-national” and “urban Naxal”. Institutional autonomy too was an issue but was confined to lower levels of government. Investigative agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate have long been “caged parrots” used to harass opposition leaders. But it was only in the past few years that major cracks have begun to appear. Four senior justices of the Supreme Court in an unprecedented move lamented publicly over selective allotment of cases, judges giving favorable verdicts got plump post-retirement jobs, CBI Director Alok Verma who was reportedly ready to initiate investigations into irregularities in the controversial Rafale deal was fired, the RTI act was amended to give power to the Central government over the tenure and salary of Central Information commissioners and the list keeps going. But most importantly there have been high levels of government interference in the Central Election Commission responsible for conducting and supervising periodic elections which has selectively been punishing opposition parties for violations of Model Conduct Code while ignoring similar violations by PM Modi and his party. Ashok Lavasa, an election commissioner who opposed the clean chits given to PM Modi was transferred and his family was harassed over corruption charges.

Which brings us to the most important factor- free and fair elections. India has been home to the largest democratic exercises where voter turnouts have generally been higher than other democracies. But with the autonomy of the Election Commission compromised and the introduction of electoral bonds by the Modi government, elections are anything but fair. Electoral bonds are instruments that donors could purchase to anonymously contribute to political parties making it very hard to audit political contributions. No prizes for guessing which party benefited the most through the scheme. And the BJP government repaid the favor by lining the pockets of corporates through the selective grant of government contracts, slashing of corporate tax rates and the easing of environmental safety and labor regulations. With other parties being no match to the coffers of BJP, the electoral playing ground is far from being level. Social media giants like Facebook have failed to take action against content from the ruling party that violate their standards. Some of the regional officials of Facebook are open supporters of Modi and were part of his various campaigns. With campaigns becoming more and more digital, this gives BJP an unfair advantage. The Association for Democratic Reforms and Common cause have also filed a plea which was accepted by the Supreme Court highlighting several discrepancies in vote tallying and result declaration in 347 constituencies in the 2019 election. Although the challenge was not to the result of the elections, the hurried and opaque manner in which results were declared by the election commission led to several irregularities which subvert long-standing democratic processes.

This is closely related to the last component of accountability. Using the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act to press bogus money laundering charges, the Modi government has targeted several NGOs and members of civil society which have been instrumental in demanding accountability from the government over the years. Notably Amnesty International ceased its activities in India after continuous state harassment followed by the freezing of their assets. Activists who raised their voice against the numerous injustices have been falsely charged for inciting violence in the Bhim Koregaon incident in 2018 and Delhi riots in 2020 while the people actually responsible with links to the BJP and its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have been let off scot-free.

The trust in government reports and data has dwindled post-2014 due to the government changing bases and definitions to project itself in better light and scrapping reports that embarrass it. The GDP base change, change in the definition of road lane construction, scrapping of unemployment and consumption data, refusal to place government audit reports in the public domain and the removal of Defense documents dating from 2017 after a recent report which contradicted Modi’s false claim that there was no Chinese intrusion are all cases in point. Media houses have become spokespersons for the ruling party parroting their arguments and rhetoric while those who dare to defy have the threat of an ED investigation looming over their heads. Even during the pandemic, the government instituted an opaque PM Cares Fund to combat the virus accepting billions of rupees of contributions from public sector companies, private corporations and individuals with no system of oversight. And the fact that Narendra Modi has given exactly zero press conferences during his tenure as PM for the past six and a half years should tell you all you need to know about accountability under the present administration.

India due to its rich diversity has another important check-the presence of multiple regional parties and the need for coalition governments. However, this too is disappearing slowly with the BJP winning an absolute majority by itself in 2019 and making inroads in almost all states of India. Regional allies having realized that their existence is being threatened are now slowly distancing themselves from the ruling party.

All this leads us to three important questions. One, how did we never realize over the past few decades how fragile our democracy was? Two, how did we end up in the last few pages in the chapter of democracy? And finally, how do we heal our global system moving forward?

There are two major responses to the first question. While a small insignificant minority always kept warning us, the rise of millennials who are largely progressive in their thinking and have a nature to demand accountability from authority has added volume to their wake up calls. The other reason is that while we always had broken systems, the people at the top never really openly threatened social minorities, exhibited dictatorial tendencies or indulged in the widespread crackdown on liberties like they do today. Whether it be President Trump refusing to commit to the constitutional two-term limit or the peaceful transition of power and his administration acting to endanger the rights of people of color, women and other minorities or Prime Minister Modi passing a discriminatory citizenship act coupled with a draconian register of citizens or unconstitutionally bifurcating and locking down the only Muslim majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, the alarming rate at which democratic principles are being attacked has awakened many.

To answer the question of how we ended up here, we have to study closely the political ascent of populists like Trump and Modi. Their campaigns revolved around two claims- they were fighting against the elite establishment which was corrupt and their social policies were unfairly in favor of minorities over the majority. False rumors about minority population overtaking that of the majority in a few years became central. In this way, the white working class and the Hindu urban voters rallied behind Trump and Modi respectively. There is a small iota of truth to both these claims. Politics has largely been in the monopoly of a few families who benefited from their privilege. Congressional seats passed from father to son in America while the PM post has been held by one family for almost half a century in India. Trump and Modi project themselves as outsiders who challenged the status quo. Although Trump entered politics as a billionaire, he was still a novice in the political arena while Modi came from a much poorer background and had ample political experience at the state level before going national. But this argument is not valid since the parties they come from, GOP and BJP are largely family-based with connections to deep pockets. However more than fact, it was the perception of people that played a key role here. Similarly, when it comes to social policies of affirmative action to minorities, it is a largely justifiable policy due to issues of underrepresentation. But the blindness of liberals to some of the genuine concerns of the majority and their over-dependence of the minority vote pushed the average voter away. Their vote shouldn’t be misunderstood as opposition to equality, but rather opposition to making elections all about minority rights alone.

It is prudent to note here that both social and economic factors of democracy played a pivotal role in the electoral victory of right-wing populists as people believed they were voting against the wealthy political elite (misguided since the right-wing political parties that these leaders belong have a long history of quid pro quo with corporates) and against politicians who focused on minorities at the cost of the majority (again misguided since the majority faces no actual threat). It is clear however that fixing our system must involve not only political but also economic and social reforms. While I have presented the cases of only India and America, similar patterns emerge while studying the rise of populists and post-truth politics around the world.

The need of the hour is leaders who will work for voters and not their corporate sponsors, who will unite us based on our shared humanity and not divide us based on skin color, religion or other differences, who will protect our human rights not undermine them and serve the people not dictate their lives. Which is why putting Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the White House is of extreme importance not only to America but the world at large. Biden is no saint, but in him we find an experienced leader who has learned over the years the importance of cooperation and dialogue. He has a plan to provide basic needs like affordable healthcare to working-class Americans through progressive taxation, to strive for racial equality and to restore decency to political institutions. Despite being on the right side of the Black Lives Movement and making history by choosing a woman of color as his running mate, he understands that this election is not about race issues alone and has focused on every important agenda including the economy and the pandemic. He will condemn the actions of authoritarians and dictators instead of calling them “great guys” like his predecessor. He also proposes to rally the world’s democracies together to recommit to liberal principles and tackle common threats like rising authoritarianism, climate change and economic damage in the aftermath of CoVID-19. The Democratic party too which has long benefitted due to corporate donations is beginning to redefine relations with big money with the rise of progressive stars like Sanders and AOC. Biden may not miraculously heal our sick democracies but will take it out of the critical care it has been pushed to over the past few years. It is not only the soul of America that is at stake in the upcoming elections. International commitment to democracy, human rights and environmental protection are all on the line. Starting with the US, the trend of electing authoritarians must be reversed. Electing Biden is the first step of many on the road to healing our broken world.