Opinion: 'The rising anger in our politics and recent elections means we must be vigilant to protect our fragile democracy,' writes kofi_hope. 'If we let our democracy slip away, building it back will be no easy feat.'
Here at home the Star has been exploring how rage, threats and intimidation have entered our politics in unprecedented ways. People look at incidents like gravel being thrown at Justin Trudeau and protesters aggressively harassing Chrystia Freeland and Jagmeet Singh and rightfully ask: why is this happening? But we should also consider the reverse: why doesn’t this happen more often?
The belief that violence isn’t tolerated in politics is a norm. So is the belief all citizens have a civic duty to vote, or that politicians should serve the interests of people who didn’t elect them. These behaviours don’t happen because of enforcement by the army, or the courts. They happen because most people believe in them and self-regulate their behaviour.
In real time we are seeing norms around democracy shifting. It’s a larger manifestation of a declining collective belief in democracy in the Western world. A similar pattern has happened across the Arab world as the initial euphoria about democracy waned and then withered under years of economic turmoil and social divides. Autocratic rule returned as nations gave up on the dream of democracy.
A democratic culture takes time to build: these norms can sometimes take generations to establish themselves. And they can be lost ever so quickly. When democracies fall, it’s not always in a dramatic surge of violent revolution — many times it dies with a whimper in the night and a collective shrug of indifference, like in Tunisia.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
In Brazilian Amazon, a 1,000-mile voyage so people can voteIn most democracies, citizens go to the polls. But in Brazil’s sparsely populated Amazon region, the polls often go to the voters.
Read more »
Conrad Black: The changing democratic tideAs the great architects of modern democracy envisioned, the people are themselves democracy’s guardians. Sometimes, they need to pull the elites along with them
Read more »
Opinion | Doug Ford goes nuclear when faced with an energy crisis of his own makingOpinion: Premier Doug Ford is facing a reckoning for his reckless rhetoric. And we are all paying a price, yet again, for cheap talk by a politician with short planning horizons. Suddenly, we are short of power.
Read more »
Flames’ Huberdeau explains his decision to pledge brain to science\u0027We’ve had concussions, as players, so I think it’s going to be good to help with the science\u0027
Read more »