5:59 v originále: Will Democracy Survive? Conversation with Sofia Näsström

Democracies all around the globe are under a lot of pressure lately. These systems are undercut by wars, putsches, disinformation but also by elected officials who have launched an assault on the democratic institutions. Are we seeing the democracy twilight in most of the countries? Not necessarily but many experts urge people to fight for it.

The world appears to be moving away from democratic tradition and values, including the United States, the very cradle of democracy. Trumpism obviously plays with autocratic tendencies with its disregard for the rule of law and constant attacks on institutions.

„We talk about democratic backsliding, and the word sliding is interesting in the sense that we are witnessing a kind of reverse reformism, reformism against, not for democracy in many countries,“ says in 5:59 podcast Sofia Näsström, Swedish expert on political theory at the Uppsala University.

She believes that many democratically elected leaders once in office start to dismantle the institutions the system is based on. Some leaders exploit the very essence of a democratic system - the uncertainty. As Näsström puts it, we don't know who the next leader will be and in which direction he or she will propel a country toward.

And this is where a democracy could fail. Some leaders feed into the anxieties of people who are lost in today's world that is threatened by global warming, the rise of artificial intelligence, conflicts and mass migration.

„We need to understand there is a spirit in a society and for someone like Putin to prevail, that spirit is fear,“ continues Sofia Näsström.

She encourages people to understand the spirit and be sure what it is that drives the democratic participation. Is it fear? Patriotism? Supremacy? Self-promotion?

„I think that we have to be aware of what spirit we act in, and we have to make sure that the institutions and policy is very important. Think about education, work, housing, what kind of spirit is active or encouraged there?“

Often, it is a better future that democratically elected politicians promise to their voters. In democracy it could backfire if the stated goal is not achieved.

And the radicals can fill the vacuum. Leaders like Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin show up and misuse feelings of uncertainty, anxiety or nostalgia for the past where things were supposedly much better. However, the Swedish expert is convinced that their style of governance is disliked by many.

„I think that leaders like Putin or Trump have also shown us what democracy is not, and many people don't like it, so maybe they have done a great job for democracy in the end.“

Sofia Näsström is advocating for institutions rather than attaching ourselves to such autocratic leaders. She argues that the institutions could unburden us from feeling too hopeless in the face of overwhelming threats like climate change and artificial intelligence.

„In the last 30 years there has been a lot of individualisation of responsibility. As if you are responsible for all these gigantic problems. I think we need to understand that what we're responsible for is to create institutions that relieve us from that individualisation,“ she concludes.

How serious are the obstacles that modern democracies face today? What are the main risks? And is democracy going to withstand the test posed by the rise of autocratic tendencies in the world now? Listen to the whole interview via the audio player at the top of the article.