Liberal democracy believes in freedom of expression and freedom of speech. It upholds the basic human rights of people irrespective of their ethnic background. The institution’s checks and balances are similar for everyone. It promotes the flow of goods and services between nation-states and thrives on the values of cooperation and coexistence. Unfortunately, on 5th August 2019, the special autonomous status of Kashmir was revoked with Article 35, 370-A. The New Delhi administration left no stone unturned to suppress the people of Kashmir with gross human rights violations: a ban on social media and freedom of expression. Sadly, these events did not occur anywhere else but in a country that claims to be the world’s largest democratic nation. These actions are just a few glimpses of a paradigm shift in the world’s liberal democratic order. The fallout of Trump’s policies further aggravated the problems for democratic norms and values. As a result, there has been a huge divide among people in local politics, political polarization has increased, and hate speech has become a norm. This has given rise to the spread of fake news and provoked the sentiments of people. The antagonist policies against minorities have curbed their basic human rights.
However, considering the global outlook of liberal democratic countries, there are significant impediments to the future of liberal democracy. The rise of populist leaders and demagogues has presented new challenges. Their emotional appeal to the public has caught the attention and people have fallen prey to hasty generalization. This has given rise to division in local politics as political polarization is increasing over the years, especially in the USA. Consequently, the rise of populist leaders turned out to be a nail in the coffin for democratic norms and values. People were provoked to spread hate against minorities and raise slogans of Hindutva and Make America Great Again.
The rise of populist leaders resulted in majoritarian and authoritarian policies. There are curbs on freedom of speech and movement of people. In India, the freedom of social media has been restricted to prevent criticism of government policies. Many of them are sponsored to fuel the fire against the Muslims. This shows a downward trend in the basic human rights of people.
The spread of fake news has also increased over the years. It has perpetuated misinformation and disinformation among the masses who rely on social media for news and information. This can be seen from the attack on Capitol Hill in the USA under Trump in which people were served lies on social media that the election has been hijacked. The spread of conspiracy theories only divided people against each other.
Moreover, the suppression of minorities is another challenge to the liberal democratic order. This violates principles of democracy where equality of citizens is of paramount importance. However, there are attacks on minorities in India, the USA, and European countries. The recent hijab ban controversy in Karnataka, allegations against Ilhan Omer in the USA and many such incidents depict a grim picture.
The fallout of covid-19 has turned out to be a disaster in general and particularly in democratic countries that were slow to react and take severe measures. On the other hand, countries like China, and Russia did better. There was an enormous loss in India and in the USA, which made lives difficult for people. As a result, people questioned the efficiency of democratic countries in dealing with covid-19. Fareed Zakaria writes in his book, “Ten Lessons for Post Pandemic World” how weak leadership in the USA aggravated the challenges of covid-19.
China’s rise is another reason that has raised alarm bells in the liberal order. It has questioned the policies of the West and could not bring the same projects as China. The spread of the Belt and Road initiative and the increasing economic power of China has attracted autocratic regimes. There are also signs of authoritarian politics in Pakistan and India. This is dangerous for the future of democracy.
It is important for liberal democratic countries to take a leaf out of their past mistakes and unite to avert the damage of covid-19. The only way to save the future of democracy is through close cooperation between leading nations and promoting freedom of expression. The rise of capitalism has helped the masses, but it has enhanced the divide between rich and poor as well. The interests of people should be considered collectively not for a certain group of people. Also, it is imperative to uphold institutional checks and balances to prevent the rise of hate speech and vandalism.
