Democracy is a system where the government implements the will of the majority and it is held accountable by the majority.
Western countries implement parliamentary democracy, and we now have ample evidence that this model of democracy does not work in practice. Western governments primarily represent the interests of the elites at the expense of the public as this study of US policy illustrates. US may be an extreme case, but similar situation is observed in most western nations.
Western chauvinists do not get to define whether other countries are democratic or not because western model itself is a failure.
People actually living in those countries get to define what their system is. Vast majority of Chinese citizens approve of their government, and think that it is in fact democratic.
As someone living in a third world liberal democracy I can, in fact, attest that the political system is a farce and anything but democratic. This us just my opinion though.
Same. I am from a third world country that is a “liberal democracy” on paper, and is slowly heading its way to fascism in the past decade. Only the interests of the rich are represented.
good, democracy isn’t a good thing and breeds fascism
You mean democracy in general or liberal democracy?
democracy in general
Right-wing being prominent and having a platform and power is strictly anti-democratic because they advocate for the rights of a tiny minority to oppress the masses. I am not sure what you mean when you say democracy here because people have at least some say in decision making is critical in ensuring a functioning society. Democracy is a multi-dimensional concept and the image just contents one tiny aspect of it that is the multi-party elections. That’s why I asked whether you meant democracy in general or liberal democracy but your response is a bit confusing because you say “democracy in general” then post an image that is strictly a critique of liberal democracy.
To state something (Western parliamentary democracy does not work in practice for example) and support that with a link to one study is a flawed method of reasoning. In fact if someone comes up with just one example that supports the opposite the statement has to be rejected or rephrased.
The US is probably a very poor example of a parliamentary democracy since the whole system is designed the favor the white voters with the stupid winner takes all principle and voter registration. It probably wouldn’t pass the test of a proper democracy of any kind.
A proper parliamentary democratic system does have a proper representation of minorities that have actual influence because of changing coalitions (and therefore changing majorities) every time new legislation is being created and brought into vote.
It’s hard to compare parliamentary democracy with e.g a consultative democracy here objectively without degrading into sentiments of national superiority (e.g US vs China) which frankly I despise and consider very non-productive.
The trends across majority of countries across the western world are pretty similar. People are largely discontent with their governments with active rioting in many countries. Quality of life has been decreasing, work hours getting longer, and wealth gap becoming astronomical. These are not governments that are working in the interest of the public.
But that’s not necessarily due to representative democracy. In fact IMHO it’s more likely caused by Capitalism that’s tearing the world apart whether in China or the US. When studying these (perceived) patterns it’s very tempting to confuse a prejudice with a causality. That also applies to me of course. BTW: I did a little comparison in the top 5 happiest countries (Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Netherlands; source: World Happiness Report of the UN) between 2019 and 2021 and I rather saw an upward trend in happiness than the opposite which doesn’t seem in line with growing discontent.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world
Representative democracy is precisely what perpetuates capitalism. Lenin provides a great analysis of this relationship in The State and Revolution.
Meanwhile, this is clearly not the case in China. Quality of life in China continues to steadily improve with every decade. Poverty has been effectively eliminated. In fact, China is the only place in a world where any meaningful poverty reduction is happening. If we take China out of the equation poverty actually increased in real terms:
China also massively invests in public infrastructure, they built 27,000km of high speed rail in a decade. 90% of families own their home with 80% of these homes being owned outright, without mortgages or any other leans. Wage adjusted for the prices you pay has gone up 4x in the past 25 years, more than any other country, and people enjoy a high level of social mobility. China also chose to prioritize public health over business interests when handling the pandemic, something that didn’t happen in any major capitalist state.
Chinese government has recently passed massive regulation on big business and released a a five-year blueprint calling for greater regulation of vast parts of the economy. The government has also openly stated that the era of capital expansion is over and the interests of the majority outweigh the interests of shareholders.
Also worth noting that Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Netherlands accounts for a tiny portion of the overall western population. So, even if we accept those results at face value, many bigger capitalist countries like France, UK, Canada, and US are having very turbulent times. You don’t have country wide protests happening when people are happy.