American democracy is threatened with decay, so how can the United States protect it from its internal and external enemies?

This question is the focus of an article published by Foreign Affairs magazine, which 3 American academic researchers tried to answer.

At the beginning of their joint article, Irene Bagot Carter, Bret Carter, and Larry Diamond - all three of whom are professors and researchers in the field of political science and international relations at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution of the same university - say that the democratic system of government in the United States was subjected two years ago to an unprecedented test, when supporters sought President Donald Trump overturned the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which he was defeated.

Some of these attempts came through "conspiracies" outside the scope of the law, and others through a "violent" assault on the Congress building.

Since that difficult historical moment - as the article describes it - American democracy began to work better and its prospects improve, as the midterm elections for Congress in 2022 were successfully held, and the "extremist deniers" lost in important swing states such as Arizona and Pennsylvania.

A select committee from the House of Representatives entrusted with the investigation into the storming of Capitol Hill on January 6 of last year documented the riots that attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 elections and the role of former US President Donald Trump in igniting them.

The decline of authoritarian regimes

In Brazil and France, candidates suspected of being committed to the democratic approach were defeated in the presidential elections, and peaceful elections were held in Colombia.

Meanwhile, the most powerful authoritarian regimes in the world are suffering, according to the article, whose authors claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin, by waging war on Ukraine, has put an end to the "myth of Moscow's awakening."

As for China's efforts to be the largest economy in the world and the most powerful influence, it has faltered due to "fatal" mismanagement by its President Xi Jinping of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic.

A real estate bubble, a 20% youth unemployment rate, politically motivated crackdowns on the private sector, and ballooning local government debt;

To erode President Xi's attractiveness at home.

But despite the weakness of Beijing and Moscow, they - according to the authors of the article - still pose a serious threat to democracy, and the more complex their internal problems, the greater their tendency to discredit alternative regimes and degrade their democratic opponents.

For this reason - the article adds - Beijing and Moscow are waging a global war of disinformation, in which they exploit the weaknesses of American democracy and exacerbate its fragility.

This disinformation war within China and Russia aims to suppress demands for democratic reforms, by discrediting Western-style democracy.


challenges

Globally, this war seeks to install and support friendly governments, to counter the growing sense that dealing with Beijing and Moscow has negative consequences for local citizens, and ultimately to create a new, fragmented international order that privileges “national sovereignty” at the expense of human rights.

In their article, the three academics believe that the weakness of Western democracies helped Beijing and Moscow in this task.

As Trump continues to challenge the legitimacy of the 2020 elections, he may soon face criminal charges, and Congress may be dominated in the next two years by a state of stalemate, investigations of a purely partisan nature, procedures related to the accountability of senior officials, and new “suspicious” attempts to undermine the American electoral process instead of restoring confidence. In which.

Social media continues to be conduits for disinformation and conspiracy theories, and the assault on the truth is about to get worse with rapid advances in generative AI software capable of producing deepfakes, a technology that creates fake videos that show public figures saying and doing things they haven't said or done. do it at all.

This technology - in the opinion of the authors of the article - is "a gift from heaven to the two superpowers in disinformation, China and Russia."

Distortion of democracy

The authors believe that the decline of democratic practice in the United States helps both Beijing and Moscow to discredit democracy as an idea.

If democracy can once again become a model capable of inspiring others, then it must be strengthened at home, and only then can Washington win the battle of global soft power, according to the Foreign Affairs article.

The three professors view Beijing as a pioneer in rampant digital surveillance, noting that Moscow has also stepped up its repressive measures in an effort to contain domestic opposition to the war in Ukraine.

However, all dictatorships require at least some degree of popular support or acquiescence.

And when citizens evaluate their government's performance, they compare it to that of other countries.

This is why Beijing and Moscow allocate nearly a fifth of domestic propaganda to foreign governments, and consider Western-style democracy "rotten, reckless, and unworthy of sacrifice."

They also claim that the "real" democracy is in China and Russia.

Perhaps this is why the erosion of democracy in the United States serves the interests of Beijing and Moscow, as it provides them with content for their domestic propaganda, according to the Foreign Affairs article.

European integration is also a target of Putin's domestic propaganda, which derides it as an elite-led project.

The propaganda "fabricated" by Beijing and Moscow does not only target their citizens, but also extends to the global audience.

As of 2015, Beijing has spent more than $10 billion annually in its global advertising operations.

For its part, Moscow has spent no less than $380 million on Russia Today (RT).

Western democratic countries were not spared from being targeted. Putin's government supported politicians such as Trump in the United States, the right-wing National Front party's presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, in France, and former Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini in Italy.

Putin has also expressed support for Britain's exit from the European Union, and the right-wing Alternative for Germany party.

All of these politicians - according to the article - are skeptical of the feasibility of the international system, and are not enthusiastic about promoting democracy in their countries.

The three academics go on to say that American democracy is not safe, because legislation aimed at reducing the influence of money, strengthening and expanding voting rights, ending gerrymandering, ensuring ethical standards for elected officials, and enhancing election security;

It had failed in the previous Congress, and there is little prospect of it being passed in the new Congress.

The article concludes that the United States will not be able to stand up to authoritarian regimes globally if its policy turns into a group of one-party states.

Success in combating authoritarian disinformation will depend on success at home, and on renewing American democracy, as the three authors argue in the conclusion of their article.