Prof. Larry Diamond, a Democracy Scholar at the Hoover Institute and Stanford University, has expressed his concerns about the global decline of democracy.
He pointed out that there are fewer democracies worldwide now compared to a decade ago when citizens had less reason to complain about their governments.
During an interview on The Point of View on Citi TV, hosted by Bernard Avle, Prof. Diamond mentioned countries like Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Tunisia where insurgencies have occurred.
“Democracy is in decline globally, which means there are fewer democracies now than it was 10 years ago. More countries have been living in democracy than have been moving to it. Witnessed Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Tunisia, if you want to go further North, the only Arab countries that had democracy no longer has it.
“We have had troubles in Latin America. We’ve had troubles elsewhere in Africa. South Africa is not doing very well right now democratically because of bad governance.”
Prof. Diamond attributed the decline of democracy to the failure of governments to control corruption and poor governance.
He also highlighted the issue of social polarization due to the rise of social media and disinformation from Russia and China.
“So, if you ask why [I say democracy is in decline], one reason is the failure to control corruption. The poor quality of governance and the rule of law are often a leading indicator. But there’s also a trend of greater social polarization as a result of social media, and disinformation, particularly from authoritarian actors like Russia and China,” he asserted.
The Democracy Scholar emphasized the high expectations of citizens for improvements in economic performance.
“The global economy has not been doing great since the 2008 financial crisis and people are often disappointed with the economic performance of their governments. I think that is an issue here in Ghana. The Afro-barometer shows that people still across Africa have high expectations of democracy. And considerable faith in democracy. But often they are not happy with their current governments.”
He advocated for the strengthening of democracy worldwide and the necessity to combat corruption.
“More democracies are failing, and it seems to be on trial because it’s often yielding to authoritarian rule, via military coups we have seen in West Africa. We have a lot of work to do to show that democracy can be made to work, and can become more effective. To fight corruption and improve the rule of law,” he opined.
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