NEWS
Democracy
Man has long fought for freedom and democracy, but in vain. Many believe and still believe that they live in a democratic society or have a democracy, but what is a democracy, and why has democracy failed?
The German sociologist Jürgen Habermas argued that the state must create a framework for democracy so that the white man must be allowed to create change in the state’s policy. He was criticized for not everyone in society having the same influence on politics.
Today, many in Europe still insist that they have a democracy, while many others believe that the false belief no longer holds. Today, many Europeans feel that the parties that form part of the government do not really represent them, and their opinions and the European form of democracy have developed more and more towards a populist direction. There are also many who cannot vote and participate in democracy.
Democracy is, of course, about the people being able to influence the state’s policy equally and the state obtaining its legitimacy through the people. Due to globalization, it has become more difficult for ordinary people to influence their states, but the states still need their people to gain legitimacy. Therefore, they encourage everyone to vote.
Let’s look back at the Middle East. Many countries copied the Western version of democracy and tried to modernize their countries. The national states that had fought free from colonialism by nationalist forces now wanted to modernize their country.
One of those countries was Iran before the revolution. Iran had a constitutional monarchy like Denmark and England. Because of communism, Iran had to tighten its freedom. Of course, this also happened in the west. In Denmark, where it was forbidden in 1939 to say what you wanted to limit the Nazis in Denmark, the law later developed into more restrictions regarding terror and threats to public order. There are restrictions everywhere through legislation where freedom of expression is limited.
All TV stations have their own agenda and red line. We are all monitored by the state, where the police must enforce the law. It is then up to the police and the courts to show their view of humanity regarding the legislation and restrictions. Although it was the same constituted monarchy in Iran as in the west, the king was called a dictator.
The British media The BBC played a major role in the Iranian revolution (due to oil ). Back then, the state had more influence on the BBC than today. Later, the BBC lost its influence when several television stations, such as Al Arabia and Al Jazeera, were established.
Like Iran, the European countries are nation-states that were created after the First World War. They tried to maintain their nationalist values and norms while at the same time trying to move towards democracy. Through reforms and more freedom for citizens, citizens in western countries got more freedom but not democracy.
A nation-state with a leader at the top who symbolizes a particular religion, political belief, race, and background can never become a reality. Due to colonialism and neo-colonialism, many in the Middle East followed the Western model and saw everything else as undemocratic.
Denmark can never represent democracy with a cross on the flag, which symbolizes a particular religion, and the Middle East with Islamic symbols. As a result, Muslims were increasingly discriminated against in the west, and the populist parties, with their identity politics, created hostility and undemocratic values in society.
A democratic society consists of a pluralistic public space where everyone can be part of several public spaces and influence the state’s policy. The dictatorship of the majority is not a democracy. A commission governs the EU, made up of EU courts and EU countries.
This model is more democratic as the commission has representatives from all countries, who can be changed to representatives from all parties in a democratic model. The problem is that decisions go from the commission to EU countries, which makes them dictatorial. Ideas and changes in a country must come from the people through associations and assembly halls. The parliament and the commission only have to assess and review these proposals.
Europe has been dominated by fascism, Nazism, and racism, and the Middle East by authoritarian states and fanatics. It seems that democracy has failed.
Harper Harrison is a reporter for The Hear UP. Harper got an internship at the NPR and worked as a reporter and producer. harper has also worked as a reporter for the Medium. Harper covers health and science for The Hear UP.