From the day he announced his candidacy, Joe Biden has emphasized that his mission was nothing less than saving democracy. “The triumph of democracy and liberalism over fascism and autocracy,” he wrote, “created the free world.” “But this clash doesn’t just define our past. It will define our future.”
To ensure that the forces of freedom won, he promised to convene a global summit aimed at “revitalizing the common spirit and goal of the nations of the free world.”
Is Biden on the right path to fulfilling his promise to rein in autocrats, stop democracies from retreating and revitalize the democratic spirit?
Donald Trump, his predecessor, has repeatedly expressed admiration for dictators, from the Egyptian Abdel Fattah el Sissi to the Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The change in discourse that Biden promoted on this front is clear and unmistakable. There is no longer any reason for the world to question whether America is on the side of democracy or dictatorship. The American administration distanced itself from the autocratic leaders of countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia. Even when it comes to China’s human rights violations, the White House has always been candid.
The administration has also been taking some important steps that go beyond mere speech.
It retained some of the restrictive trade policies the Trump administration adopted to contain China. And it closed an important trilateral security pact with Australia and the United Kingdom. More generally, though, it’s still far from clear whether the Biden administration will follow up its scathing talk about autocrats with scathing actions that are actually capable of containing these leaders.
For example, the Biden administration has quietly backed away from resisting the controversial Nordstream 2 pipeline, which will give Russia more influence over central Europe. She has so far been unable to stop Putin from stepping up his threats to Ukraine’s territorial integrity or to dissuade Xi Jinping from launching serious provocations in the Taiwan Straits.
And, of course, it chaotically and humiliatingly withdrew American forces from Afghanistan, leaving the Taliban in control of the country and raising serious questions about America’s willingness to support its strategic partners in a time of need.
The story is very similar when it comes to facing the rise of authoritarian populist leaders. The words coming from the White House have undergone a total transformation. But all too often, pleasant speech has not been accompanied by real action.
This problem is more than evident in the planning of the Democracy Summit scheduled for short. The list of invited countries, for example, includes leaders who are doing much to undermine democracy around the world. Jair Bolsonaro is an especially shocking example. But, as he is alongside similar leaders, from the Indian Narendra Modi to the Filipino Rodrigo Duterte, Bolsonaro is far from alone. The who’s who of international populism will be welcome to the Summit of Democracy.
And a virtual two-day summit with 100 countries participating is unlikely to reach real consensus or make solid commitments. Everything indicates that, in his speech to the summit, Biden is expected to announce some sensible initiatives on topics such as corruption, but it doesn’t seem likely that he will define a truly innovative paradigm of how the international community can cooperate to preserve democracy. And where hosts don’t lead, guests are unlikely to follow.
The final area in which the administration has so far failed to deliver on its promises is the one over which Biden has the least control — but it may also be the most important. By characterizing the 2020 election as a “battle for the nation’s soul,” Biden hoped that an unequivocal victory over Trump would represent a definitive rebuke to the Republican.
But Biden’s victory over Trump turned out to be far more conditional than expected. His margin of victory was clear but not decisive. Since then, instead of being expelled from the GOP, Trump has only strengthened his hold on him. He even managed to convince millions of Americans that his election victory was stolen from him.
As long as America remains as deeply divided as it is today, no leader in the country, however well-intentioned, should inspire a resurgence of global faith in democracy.
Biden was right when he said that democracy is in danger around the world. But it’s also becoming clear that he seriously underestimated the obstacles that prevent a well-meaning president from doing anything about it. So he made far too big promises about the contribution his administration could make to support democracy.
America is faced with a much more difficult choice than Biden has so far admitted. If the country’s leaders are serious about doing something meaningful to help democracies endure in an era of rising autocracy, they must embrace an ambitious agenda far beyond pretty speeches.
That would end serious setbacks. Even if it is tried, it may not be successful. But the least America’s leaders can do is be honest with themselves, the country, and the world. If Biden has decided that the steps needed to make a real difference in the struggle between “democracy and liberalism” and “fascism and autocracy” are not worth the cost, he needs to step up and say so clearly.
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