Why Democracy is its Own Worst Enemy?

Autores

  • Cristina Cabrita Holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the Institute for Political Studies (Catholic University of Portugal) with a thesis on American Grand Strategy, neoconservatism and US Foreign Policy. He also holds a B.A. and a M.Sc. in International Relations from Lusíada University of Lisbon. In 2005 he earned an A.A. from the Institute for European Studies (Catholic University of Portugal). In 2008/2009, he was a visiting student at the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) with a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholarship. Along with it, he is also an investigator at The Research Center of the Institute for Political Studies (CIEP). He is currently a foreign affairs columnist of the Portuguese magazine Sábado. Since 2006 he works at the Mayor’s office of his hometown, Albufeira, where is the Head of the Division of Communication, Public Relations and International Relations. Author of the book “Neoconservatism and American Foreign Policy”, his primary research interests include American Foreign Policy; International Politics (namely Latin America and Asia-Pacific); Security Studies; Comparative Politics; Political Theory and International Relations Theory

Resumo

The challenges that lay ahead for democracy are so serious that few political scientists have the courage to risk their reputation and pin down with relative accuracy what will happen on a five/ten/fifteen year basis. As a matter of fact, when the term “democracy” and “enemy” is used in the same sentence there´s a natural and immediate tendency – for those 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 far away from our perfect democratic bubble. This reasoning can be in part seen in the on-going debate about democracy’s struggle 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 precisely part of the problem – democracy is to some extent its own worst enemy. Why? Because most of the issues that we´re debating today are a result of a certain apathy and disentanglement of liberal democracies around the world in the last decade.

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Publicado

2024-10-02

Edição

N.º 145 (2016): Leituras da Grande Guerra

Secção

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