3mo ago

Global democracy continues to decline, says watchdog

www.dw.com Global democracy continues to decline, says watchdog – DW – 09/17/2024

According to a report, the global index for free and fair elections suffered the biggest decline on record in 2023, while disputed elections are becoming a global phenomenon.

According to a report, the global index for free and fair elections suffered the biggest decline on record in 2023, while disputed elections are becoming a global phenomenon.

A shrinking voter turnout globally and increasingly contested election results are posing a risk to the credibility of democracy, a new report revealed on Tuesday.

The report published by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) said that global voter turnout between 2008 and 2023 plunged by 10 percentage points, going from 65.2 to 55.5.

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Maybe, just maybe, liberal democracies need to do a better job solving problems for constituents and less time fellating billionaires.
That might help.
I mean, when I see a right-wing populist telling me they can fix all my problems, I know they're a lying, opportunistic piece of shit, but I can also see the appeal because at least they're saying that there's problems and that they'll do something, which is more than milquetoast centrists will do.
- Then you learn that the "something" they want to do is the exact opposite direction of what solving the problem would look like. It takes 2 seconds of critical thought to realize I'd much rather stick with the "milquetoast centrists" than ever consider voting for regressive conservatives.
  
  Agreed, but those people are totally shooting themselves (and us) in the foot by continuing to act as if certain issues either straight up don't exist or aren't that bad at all. That ALLOWS the rightwing demagogues to offer "solutions" which a huge part of (uncritical) people lap up and run with.
  
  Some issues really don't straight up exist. Outrage TV will always come up with something to stir people up. Other issues are pretty complicated without any promising solutions, so it may just seem like they're being ignored. Conservatives will focus on those and claim to have the answer, but then their answer is something like "to eradicate poverty we need to put poor people in jail".

11 comments