Zheng Yongnian: The crisis of Western democracy and its backwardness

Former US Ambassador Max Bobaks said in the CNN news program: Today, the Trump administration's words on China are so tough, as if returning to the MDASH; mdash; that McCarthy claims to be infiltrated by the US State Department;It is also a bit like Germany in Hitler in the 1930s.

Baokas said: Everyone knows everything is being staged, but no one stands out what hellip; hellip; now in the United States, if who wants to say some rational remarks about China, he/she willI will feel fear, I will be afraid that I will be pulled out and beheaded rsquo;Baokas expressed concern: those Americans who are responsible now, just like people living in the Nazi period, could not stand up and speak.

Baokas also believes that the reason why this situation happened was because the Trump administration realized that the loss of the epidemic caused a decline in the economic situation and had to do this (accusing China of China) to transfer attention to the attention.And shirk responsibility.

Bowas added: I think we are developing in that direction (Hitler period), but there are still many Americans who have a lot of responsibilities. They all know that (the Trump administration) attack on China is irresponsible.They also know that if we continue, we will pay for it, but they dare not say it, because they will be criticized when they say it.

The reason why Bokas worried is because this situation should not appear in an American society that has always been regarded as a model of democracy.From another perspective, the coronary virus epidemic has constituted an unprecedented crisis on Western democracy.What Baokas said is undoubtedly a real situation, and his concerns are also concerned about where many people in the West have for Western democracy.Historically, similar crises have also occurred, such as democracy produced Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy.

This has always been the shame of Western democracy.Although Westerners have always wanted to clarify the relationship between fascism, Nazi, and democracy, in any case, Hitler and Mussolini have obtained power through democratic methods.Will history repeat again, will the crown disease epidemic constitute a crisis against Western and Western democracy again?

The general trend of Western -style democracy

In fact, this is not a problem that will happen, but how deep the crisis is.The New York Times announced on March 31 that the coronary virus epidemic was given a dictatorship and abuse of power in the world?The article points out a major trend, that is, the authoritarian authority, and the shift of democracy.It is not difficult to see that as the popularity of crown diseases stops the world's operations to abruptly, anxious citizens require action, and leaders of countries around the world are using administrative power. In the absence of resistance, they have seized substantial dictatorship.

Britain and the United States are old -fashioned democracy, the birthplace and lighthouse of democracy, spreading and supporting the most powerful power of democracy in Western methods.However, the epidemic changes everything quickly.On the one hand, the governments of the two countries have obtained increasing power, but at the same time they are manifested as resistance.

In the UK, the minister has a shocking power that the critics are considered to be a shocking power because they can arrest the people and close the border.In the United States, the Ministry of Justice requires Congress to give it more power, including the cancellation of legal protection of the seekers who seeks asylum, and detaining the people indefinitely without trial.Under the obstruction of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, the Ministry of Justice made concessions and submitted a more mild proposal.However, President Trump has obtained most of the power of the President of War and launched the National Defense Production Law.Trump also rejected a bill for Congress to restrict the power of the president's war.As the epidemic progresses, Trump is seeking greater power.

The EU situation is also quite grim.The rapid spread of coronal viruses has forced EU countries to take some emergency measures that were previously considered possible in autocracy, such as restricting travel, prohibiting rally, and reducing religious freedom.In the early days of the epidemic, the vice chairman of the European Commission pointed out that 20 EU member states have passed the emergency law to deal with the epidemic.

In EU countries, Hungary is the most extreme.Hungary approved a controversial emergency law, and the parliament gave the Prime Minister Olban's huge power: as long as the emergency state continues, the election cannot be held, and the disruption information may be sentenced.

But Hungary is not lonely.Other EU countries such as Spain also follow Hungary.Despite being carried out in the framework of the Constitution, these countries have decided to temporarily close parliament or hold parliament votes in virtual space.Even in Germany, the Federal House Speaker Shuo Ibel made a similar suggestion that proposed to set up a small -scale emergency parliament to deal with the crisis, but the German Constitution only allowed this measure in the state of war.It's not the time to do this now.

Europe and the United States are the core of democracy.Outside of this core, the situation of countries that implement western democracy are even worse.Outside of Europe and the United States, Western Democracy can be said to be foreign and often does not have a deep civilization foundation.Because of this, democracy seems to be able to become a played by politicians at any time.

Israeli Prime Minister Neiahu has already authorized domestic security security agencies to track citizens with secret mobile phone data developed by counter -terrorism.Through tracking people's activities, the government can punish those who violate the isolation order, and the maximum sentence can reach six months.By closing the national court, Neutanahu, who faced the charges of corruption, also postponed his original court time.

In Asia, the invasive monitoring system used by some countries represented by South Korea will cause condemnation under normal circumstances, but it is accepted by the people because it can slow down the infection.Model of resistance.

The Philippine Parliament passed the bill to award the president Duterte's emergency power.Members simplified the draft law that previously allowed the president to take over private enterprises.Duterte compared the national constitution to a toilet paper.

The Prime Minister of Thailand has mastered the power of implementing and reviewing the news media.Some reporters in Thailand were prosecuted and intimidated for criticizing the government's improper response to the epidemic.

In South America, Chile announced its into disaster, and the army was deployed on the streets of the city, suppressing the anger that has been shaking throughout the country for a long time.Bolivia suspended the presidential election that was scheduled to be in early May.The controversial election in 2019 caused violent protests and forced President Morales to resign.

Change of Western Democracy

From the perspective of which perspective, Western democracy is experiencing unprecedented tests since the 1930s.It can be seen from several aspects.

1. Shining of Western Democratic Circle

Western democracy is obvious.First manifested in the reduction of the democratic circle.Freedom House recently released a survey report that according to their results of investigating 29 countries in China and Central Asia, it was foundPoor moment.

After the existing people, the organization expelled Hungary, Serbia, and Heishan.The reason is that the administrative organs of these three countries have serious power, interference in justice, and corruption.Serbia and Black Mountain have been kicked out of the Democratic State Department for the first time since 2003.

Hungary was originally listed in a democratic country in 2005. At that time, it was praised by the Freedom House as the pioneer of democratic reform, but today's Hungary is regarded as the country with the highest degree of democracy.Freedom House also warned that Poland also showed signs of democracy.

The Freedom House also criticized the European Union and believes that the European Union is the accomplice of these countries that are not democratic, because in order to allow these countries to join the European Union, the European Union relaxes human rights review of these countries.

It is foreseeable that if the crown disease epidemic continues, whether it is Western democracy itself, or the centralized tendencies of governments in Western -style democratic countries, they will become more and more.the reason is simple.Power is a very realistic method of solving problems.existIn the face of crisis, leaders of more and more countries will solve problems based on their considers the most effective way, and will not act according to the standard democratic manual provided by the West (such as the Freedom House).

Furthermore, many countries' criticism of the West has nothing to do.It is also easy to understand that these countries also have legitimate reasons to criticize the accusations such as the home of freedom.For example, a spokesman for the Hungarian government criticized the Freedom House that the United States wanted to control the political situation of foreign countries through human rights organizations (the freedom home is affiliated with US officials), or financial giant Soros and others.He said that as long as the country does not meet the US democratic value, it will be reduced, which is just an extension of domestic politics in the United States.

2. Restore the normal state of democracy and no timetable

If you shift from democracy to concentration, it is a special means in a special state, and it is understandable, because once the crisis passes, politicians can repay the power to the people.But the problem is not so simple.The logic of power operation is to obtain greater and more power with existing power.For power, politicians can manipulate power.What if politicians normalize special state for power?This situation is not unimaginable.

Modern society is complex and fragile.In the past few decades, terrorism, financial crisis, plague, and local war hellip; hellip; various crises have never stopped.If the crisis becomes normal, politicians can also normalize autocracy.

As some observers have observed, over time, the emergency law issued by governments of various governments will gradually penetrate into the legal structure and become the norm.The International Center for Not-FOR-PROFIT LAW in Washington, located in Washington, recently stated that the agency was tracking the new legislation and decree during the major period of popularity.Lu Cen said: It is really easy to shape the emergency power. It is difficult for them to dismantle them.Indeed, no one knows where these emergency bills will go after the crisis.In fact, the Patriot Act that was promulgated in the past, such as the Patriot Act after the September 11, was still alive after the crisis it was originally responding.

Third, the lack of power of power for checks and balances

Dental rights balance is considered the essence of Western democracy.The system of legislation, administrative, and judicial decentralization and balance of rights are proud of the West.But at the crisis, justice often becomes the accomplices of administration, and legislative power is often weakened.

Austrian democratic researcher Tamara EHS defended the centralized measures adopted by the administrative authorities of the democratic state, and believed that strict restrictions were not democratic.Es said: It is reasonable to measure whether a measure is reasonable, and can you refer to these standards: Is the purpose of the measure against the epidemic?Does the measure strictly follow the legal procedures?If these standards meet these standards, strict ban can be implemented under the democratic system.

But at the same time, Es also believes that if officials have expanded the scope of the object and do not perform the procedure, they may cross the border.For example, the Austrian Ministry of Health recently hopes to issue the Easter Act, so that the police can search for private houses without advance notice in order to check whether the home will hold an Easter party.Es said that this serious violation of privacy may also be introduced in a democratic country, but it only comes from the requirements of the Minister of Health and has not been approved by parliament.After the opposition and the large -scale protest of the opposition and folk society, the decree was canceled.

The supervision of the parliament that Es is said to be critical to democracy, because as Ess said: As a platform, people can make their own voices and form different opinions.There will always be a variety of solutions in democratic countries.But the problem is that if administrative power is large enough, measures will be taken to restrict the power of parliament.Hungary has restricted parliamentary activities, and this situation has also occurred in many other Western countries, especially in non -Western countries that implement Western democracy.

Fourth, trust is just a piece of paper

What is the people's trust in politicians?The trust of the people has always been regarded as the advantage of democratic politics.After all, in a democratic society, power is based on votes.If the people no longer trust those in power, in the next election, they can not vote to the current power.In other words, the current person in charge has lost the trust of the people.

But the problem is that when the virus is popular, the people's fear is unprecedented. They hope that the leaders will appear and become a hero who saves them, and is willing to accept the restrictions on freedom for this.When the crisis passes, the people will hope that these heroes will become ordinary people and return them to the freedom lost in the crisis.

However, this is often just naive.Humanity is this: one day becomes a hero, and he wants to be a hero of the first life.Hitler and Mussolini were also trusted by the people at the time. What is the result?Is the human nature of political power changes now?

Today, the United States and Western democratic countries have a look like a defense war with China, as if the threat of Western democracy comes from China.This is actually a big mistake.The crisis of Western democracy itself can only come from itself instead of external challenges.In fact, whether it is authoritarian or democratic, there are few political systems that have been defeated from the outside, and most of the causes of collapse come from the inside.This is the case in the past, the same is true today, and the future will be the case.

(The author is a professor at the National University of Singapore and East Asia)

The article only represents personal point of view