The challenges that lay ahead for democracy are so serious that few political scientists have the courage to risk theirreputation and pin down with relative accuracy what will happen on a 5/10/15 year basis. As a matt...The challenges that lay ahead for democracy are so serious that few political scientists have the courage to risk theirreputation and pin down with relative accuracy what will happen on a 5/10/15 year basis. As a matter of fact, whenthe term ＂democracy＂ and ＂enemy＂ is used in the same sentence there＇s a natural and immediate tendency---forthose who are lucky enough to live in electoral democracies---to look over the fence and not to our own backyard.That is to say, democracy＇s enemies, our enemies, are some sort of mythological creatures that live far away fi＇omour perfect democratic bubble. This reasoning can be in part seen in the on-going debate about democracy＇sstruggle against its external enemies. During the Cold War period democracy was at ＂war＂ with communism and,before that, with national-socialism and fascism. Currently, democracy faces new enemies： global authoritarianism,international terrorism, religious extremism, and Islamic fundamentalism. This thoughtfulness is only partly true.At least it＇s not the only reason why we are debating this matter today. According to this paper, and that＇s preciselypart of the problem, democracy is to some extent its own worst enemy. Why？ Because most of the issues that we＇redebating today are the result of a certain apathy and disentanglement of liberal democracies around the world in thelast decade.展开更多
文摘The challenges that lay ahead for democracy are so serious that few political scientists have the courage to risk theirreputation and pin down with relative accuracy what will happen on a 5/10/15 year basis. As a matter of fact, whenthe term ＂democracy＂ and ＂enemy＂ is used in the same sentence there＇s a natural and immediate tendency---forthose who are lucky enough to live in electoral democracies---to look over the fence and not to our own backyard.That is to say, democracy＇s enemies, our enemies, are some sort of mythological creatures that live far away fi＇omour perfect democratic bubble. This reasoning can be in part seen in the on-going debate about democracy＇sstruggle against its external enemies. During the Cold War period democracy was at ＂war＂ with communism and,before that, with national-socialism and fascism. Currently, democracy faces new enemies： global authoritarianism,international terrorism, religious extremism, and Islamic fundamentalism. This thoughtfulness is only partly true.At least it＇s not the only reason why we are debating this matter today. According to this paper, and that＇s preciselypart of the problem, democracy is to some extent its own worst enemy. Why？ Because most of the issues that we＇redebating today are the result of a certain apathy and disentanglement of liberal democracies around the world in thelast decade.
