Liberal democracy

Democracy is on a knife edge in Central and Southeast Europe as authoritarian alternatives enter the mainstream and populists erode vital checks and balances on power — not least free media.

In China 30 years ago an audacious public protest in the capital's central square pushed the country's autocrats to the brink, and when the Soviet Union imploded, the ruling party's most relentless critic became Russia's president and dominant political figure. Ascendant America had no serious rival. In Europe, West welcomed East.

Tuesday's midterm elections in the United States are very important and not just for the US itself, but for the entire world and especially the West, where liberal democracy has been facing major challenges of late.

The elections concern all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate and 36 state governorships.

It has become commonplace in contemporary political discourse to lament what is perceived to be a crisis in liberal democracy.

Our political systems don't work anymore, it is claimed. Classic notions and institutions no longer inspire confidence, particularly among younger citizens. More and more people are openly expressing doubts about the merits of democratic governance.

'The Retreat of Western Liberalism' by Edward Luce (Little Brown, 234 pages, £16)

The referendum results provided hope, but for nothing! Despite all the political pressure, the close race in the votes represented a great success in the name of democratic dissent, but it was a success in vain! The high score of the "no" votes in spite of all the odds feels good, but only as good as the last breath before death. 

The wave is getting bigger. First it was Germany, Austria and the Netherlands; then it was Sweden and Denmark that barred Turkish politicians from speaking in their country as part of political campaigning among Turkish emigres.

'Against Elections: The Case for Democracy' by David Van Reybrouck (Bodley Head, 208 pages, $15)

I will begin this piece with an honest confession: As a Turkey observer, I failed in the first decade of this century to foresee the second decade. By the year 2010, I was very optimistic about "New Turkey," believing it was on the road to becoming a liberal democracy. By 2016, however, we are, at best, a very illiberal democracy.

There is no heaven on earth. All the world's governments are engaged in their own negotiations; all the world's governments are directly or indirectly responsible for lost lives near or far away from them, for undernourished souls, for people laying their heads on pavement stones instead of pillows... They all have their fingers in the pie.