Wu Ming — 1 year ago(March 10, 2025 12:33 PM)
Political Scientist: USA heading for
"serious Constitutional Crisis"
Political scientist Yascha Mounk warns of the threat to democratic achievements.
Democracies must focus on their strengths. Populists would then look like fools.
"DEMOCRACY HAS NO ALTERNATIVE"
ZDFheute:
Vibrant democracies are under pressure worldwide.
Some even see it as a
"discontinued model"
. What's your view on this?
Mounk:
I am very worried because many of the achievements of democracy are at risk - from freedom of opinion to the overall high quality of life. For two decades, democratic freedom declines globally, even in supposedly safe countries. Nevertheless, we must not become too defeatist:
The world is more democratic today than it was 50 years ago.
ZDFheute:
According to current international studies, there's a
"decline in global freedom"
across-the-board and also a loss of democracy quality. What's going on?
Mounk:
We experience a democratic recession. But a look at history shows that democracy comes in waves. The political scientist Samuel Huntington made it clear: after the French Revolution, at the beginning of the 20th century and after World War II, numerous countries experienced a wave of democratization, followed by setbacks. It's a lively up and down.
ZDFheute:
You talk about a democratic recession, in other words an economic downturn.
Where's the whole thing heading?
Mounk:
The question is: Are we currently in a particularly high backward wave? Or one that's part of a familiar pattern of two steps forward and one step back? Or is this backwards trend something else?
I think it's too early to judge that.
But I am concerned that we're not only seeing this backwards roll in Kenya, Thailand and Tunisia,
for example, where democracies weren't yet consolidated. But also in countries from Hungary to India
to the USA, where we assumed that democracy was consolidated.
ZDFheute:
US President Donald Trump seems to attack the foundations of US democracy with an axe. What's happening?
Mounk:
We see a US President who tramples on the basic rules and norms of democracy.
At the same time, the US has much veto powers to prevent a dictatorship.
ZDFheute:
Although some judges already put a stop to Trump's activities,
the US President is still willing to leave no stone unturned…
Mounk:
The US may head relatively quickly towards a serious constitutional crisis.
That would be a first in America's recent history.
ZDFheute:
Many democracies are under pressure worldwide.
In your opinion, where were democratic forces recently able to buck the trend?
Mounk:
Brazil and Poland are examples where the change of power from authoritarian-minded governments to democratically oriented ones were successful. We also see that some of the populists,
who managed to concentrate much power in their own hands, become unpopular.
Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey lose popularity.
ZDFheute:
Attacks on democracies from outside are often discussed.
But what do democracies suffer from internally?
Mounk:
For democracies to be successful, they must prosper economically and
offer citizens important services - decent pensions, functioning health systems and good schools.
It's also crucial that citizens' opinions are heard and reflected by politicians.
In Europe, many people wanted more control over borders for years, often ignored by moderate
political parties. This means that more and more citizens turn to those parties that promise this control.
Democratic control over immigration and consequences for rule violations are crucial
to creating essential acceptance of immigration among the population.
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/demokratie-krise-interview-politologe-mounk-100.html
March 07, 2025
Yascha Mounk
*June 10, 1982
was born and raised in Munich. His mother was Jewish and left Poland in 1969
after the purge of Jews from positions in the Communist apparatus.
Many members of his mother’s family were killed in the Holocaust.
He said, he felt like a stranger in Germany, and though German is his
native language, he never felt accepted as a
"true German"
by his peers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yascha_Mounk