The future of global democracy: Reelecting Trump puts everything at stake
ALANNAH NATHAN: The scene of four American policemen brutally murdering George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sent shockwaves through the world this June. The repeated failure of American institutions to protect its citizens from police brutality, coronavirus, economic distress, and voter suppression, is not only an American embarrassment but indicates what could be a fatal shift in the international system – particularly for liberal democracies. False guarantees of justice and dangers to democratic systems exist within all democracies and can easily lead to instability and collapse if ignored.
Since President Donald J.Trump began his presidency in 2016, America may have largely retreated from the global stage politically, but make no mistakes, more eyes are on the U.S. than ever before. Once seen as the poster child of liberal democracy – although never without its flaws – America is now a model of what not to do but what is nonetheless happening in its own forms across the globe.
Days after the murder of George Floyd, millions domestically and abroad took to the streets in protest, standing in solidarity with the countless victims of police brutality, racism, and oppressive institutions across the world. Protestors from Australia, Britain, and France to Sweden, Austria, and Nigeria gathered, even in the height of a pandemic, to express their disappointment in the failure of the United States – and their own countries – to uphold their promise as a free nation. They forced their own governments to look inwardly and address what cracks lay within the treatment of their own nation’s citizens. In Australia, for example, thousands of protestors demanded fair treatment of their Aboriginal population. After the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggested protestors were “importing” issues that only existed in the U.S., not Australia, Dr. Ron Baird, an African-American living in the country responded: “No Mr. Morrison, Australia is not the United States, but Australia does have its own long, dark, brutal past of oppression.” As former Secretary of State, Madeline Albright discusses in her book “Fascism: A Warning,” it is precisely the view that one’s nation is immune to becoming illiberal or undemocratic that is most dangerous.
It’s easy for foreigners to look to the United States with pity – even absolute disgust –, seeing the country’s failures as unique to America – a symptom of its long-standing individualistic, greedy, and hypocritical nature. The flailing president that is Trump certainly doesn’t convince them otherwise. But for others, America’s failures to protect the life of its citizens – and, as an extension, democracy itself – is a reflection of their own nation’s foreboding future. Giovanni Marzona, a ninety-two-year-old Italian, who was a young teenager when he first saw the Americans arrive in Europe during the Second World War carrying “democracy,” worries about what he sees in the wake of the George Floyd killing: “We always looked at America as the first defender of freedom,” he said. “If they go backward we will all go backward.”
All democratic nations should see the trajectory of the United States as a severe warning sign. Trump is the first truly anti-democratic American president, which the world has had far too many opportunities to witness. Although Trump is in many ways “a symptom and not a cause” as many have rightly stated, his individual actions have nonetheless upended the nation’s liberal democratic values in ways wouldn’t have had Hillary Clinton won. His election as President may have been a symptom in many ways, yes, and not the sole cause of the threat to American democracy. Had Clinton won, it is unlikely the simple act of wearing a mask would become political or that children would be separated – with little distress signaled by many Americans – from their families at the Mexican border. Muslims would certainly not have been banned from entry into the country creating rampant Islamaphobia, widespread xenophobia stemming from the coin of the term “Chinese virus” would certainly not have occurred, groups like QAnon would not have seen subtle leverage from the president, fake news (and the attack on the free press) would not so prevalent, and neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys would not have risen to prominence.
Fake news, rising nationalist sentiment, broken healthcare and education systems, and xenophobia are not uniquely American. They can easily plague all democracies. They may be most poignant in the U.S. now – particularly given their contradiction to the founding American ethos – but they are not confined within its borders. As the world becomes increasingly globalized, the same sentiments that allowed the election of Trump – and could allow for his reelection – have already traveled overseas.
If any nation looks away long enough, they too will wake up one day to the same nightmare and find themselves tangled in the fray of white supremacy, dangerous populism, widespread xenophobic attitudes, attacks on free speech and the free press, or the denial of science. Many – if not all – have already: France has witnessed the rapid ascension of its far-right political party which holds views in stark contrast with France’s liberal democratic values, Germany now sees the growth of the neo-Nazi AfD party which now holds seats in the Parliament, and India’s Hindu nationalist movement is testimony to rising Islamaphobic attitudes across the world.
In the final words of the late John Lewis, “Democracy is not a state; it is an act.” It has never been perfect by any stretch of the imagination but neither has it been in such backward motion. The threat of a crumbling democracy and the suppression of freedom of people like George Floyd in America is a warning sign to other democratic nations to protect their systems and fight for justice for all its people now more than ever.
No matter which candidate wins come November 3rd whether peacefully, violently, legitimately, or illegitimately, the United States will not quietly disappear as a world power; no country nor democracy operates in their own sphere of influence in this era of globalization. Instead, what happens next for America has far-reaching consequences and could signal a decline for all democracies and give rise to more authoritarian styles of governments and the ascension of China and Russia as the world’s superpowers.
A last hope remains for the future of liberal democracies around the world: If the United States can indeed reverse course and strengthen its democratic values, reform its police systems, and recover economic disparity (which has in so many ways led to the xenophobic and anti-immigrant attitudes), it may just be the strongest indication of all that liberal democracies can indeed succeed more than any other form of government. Countries have long looked to America –for better or worse, the nation should use that as an opportunity.
Alannah Nathan is a freshman in the School of Foreign Service and a New Yorker by way of Seattle. She is a prospective STIA major and hopes to guide the future of climate change policy in the international arena.