Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Democracy has taken a detour this century.
Can it get back on track?
What is democracy? It literally means rule by
the people, derived from Greek “Demos” (people) and “Kratos” (rule). The term
was first used in the middle of the 5th century BCE to denote the political
systems then existing in some Greek city-states like Athens. Today, it is defined
as a system of government by the eligible members of a community or state themselves
or through elected representatives.
In the 20th century, democracy
became popular in many states as a result of wars, revolutions, decolonization,
and economic circumstances. The most significant example is India, the largest
democratic state with over 800 million eligible voters. In the meantime, moves
to abuse or reverse democratization also occurred from time to time, like in the 1920s,
1930s, 1960s, 1970s, and in the 2010s when elected leaders or parties
autocratize the nation. Hitler’s Nazi was one of the most radical examples of democracy-turned-autocracy.
Recently, such regression of democracy or transformation to autocracy has been
seen in Russia, Turkey, and India only to name a few. Another setback of
democracy has also been seen in once regarded the most democratic nations like
the UK and the US, where people’s interests and opinions are distinctly
polarized like in Brexit and Trump’s impeachment trial cases.
According to the Varieties of Democracies
Institute (V-Dem), over a third, or 2.3 billion suffer from such regression of
democracy in 2018 compared with just over 400 million people in 2016. What happened
in 2016? Someone was elected in the US, or Americans chose someone who changed
the view of democracy. Is democracy now becoming a system to create or justify
autocracy?
Enjoy reading the article and think which
area you will see more radical changes a decade from now, in technology or politics.
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