Why "How To Save Democracy"?
Dear Friends of Democracy,
Have you seen the Oscar-winning documentary about Alexei Navalny?
It's worth seeing. Not only is it the story of a Russian freedom fighter, but the documentary also offers vivid illustrations of what happens to a state when a small group has seized all the power.
Then, to maintain control, any means is used. Deprivation of liberty, poisoning, war – to the suffering of millions of people. And what is happening in Russia these days is happening in many countries worldwide.
The Navalny documentary visualises how important it is to not let things get to that point. To advocate for separation of powers, to advocate for the system of checks and balances. This guarantees that societies can live in freedom and prosperity.
But how can a balanced power distribution be achieved – and endure? What can be done if democracy shifts into an authoritarian state? And are there ways to go back from authoritarian rule to democracy and the rule of law? – "How To Save Democracy" deals with these questions. And since I am an economist, I approach the issue from the political economy perspective.
What does that mean?
Economics places people at the centre of its consideration and assumes that people always act for their own good. Based on this assumption, rules for social coexistence are considered so that social prosperity arises from individual self-interested actions. The baker bakes their rolls because they want to earn money, the person who buys the rolls pays money so that they can get the rolls. The task of the rules of society is to ensure that this exchange occurs because it is for the benefit of everyone involved.
Modern democratic theory thinks in the same categories. According to John Rawls and the Nobel Prize winner in economics, James M. Buchanan, the social order, the state, arises from a common contract between its members. So people give themselves their own rules, the rules that they need to pursue their individual purposes. The state as a set of rules for collective self-commitment, so to speak.
Such a state is democracy, the rule of the people. In this respect, democracy is not just one form of government among many but the only form of human coexistence in which people make their own rules.
As a result, democracies are societies in which people feel comfortable. People can live their lives with the greatest possible freedom, and they live in prosperity. Because they give themselves rules that achieve these goals.
But democracy is always at risk. Because it is worthwhile for individuals and groups to abolish democracy. They can become richer and more powerful.
In every region of the world, democracy is under attack by populist leaders and groups that reject pluralism and demand unchecked power to advance the particular interests of their supporters, usually at the expense of minorities and other perceived foes.
Therefore, it is worth fighting for democracy.
In a democracy, not everything is perfect, but without democracy, everything we can hope for will be lost. Let's stand up for democracy. Most people will not go as far as Alexei Navalny. Most people don’t have to. Small steps can help as well. I'll start this blog.
See you,
Johannes Eber
“The triumph of the evil requires the inaction of the good.“ – Alexei Navalny