To what extent can citizens develop democratic values if their daily lives take place in vertical and non-democratic contexts par excellence? In the last months of 2022, politics in some countries in the region again showed signs of instability. But beyond gravity, political crises are essentially of and between political elites, and citizens in general have little to do with it. But the effects of such crises affect them considerably.
The most emblematic case is the crisis in Peru, with Pedro Castillo’s failed attempt to unconstitutionally dissolve Congress, his subsequent dismissal and the rise of Dina Boluarte. Thus, Peru had six presidents in six years. While in Argentina, vice-president Cristina Kirchner, de facto leader of the ruling coalition, was sentenced to six years in prison for fraudulent administration and disqualified from holding public office for life. Although this does not necessarily mean her departure from political life, it is a sign of the beginning of the end of the Kirchnerist era.
In Brazil, the extreme right that supports President Jair Bolsonaro took to the streets to reject the narrow victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round. While Bolsonaro refused to recognize the results until a month after the election, after no institution supported him, including the military sector.
In Mexico, López Obrador and his Morena party have launched a series of formal and informal strategies to weaken the institutions that administer elections. In a country where transition and democratization were essentially based on creating conditions for independence and impartiality in electoral management, attacking electoral bodies through the media and trying to modify their institutional structure without diagnosis and deliberation could jeopardize the viability of democracy in this country. Despite the gravity of such processes, these crises have so far unfolded within institutional channels.
The crisis of democracy belongs to the elites
The sometimes laconic lamentations of democratic deterioration in the region are based on a reduced conception of it. Competitions between party elites develop in institutional contexts with free and fair elections.
But political parties are increasingly dependent on state resources and less on their supporters, while representatives are more occupied with their own group agendas than with issues that affect society. And Executive powers respond more and more to de facto powers than to citizenship.
The crises of democracy are, therefore, crises of the elites. Most people are just spectators, as their daily lives unfold in contexts that have little or nothing to do with politics and democracy. In addition to the permanent distrust of politicians, the complexity of institutional systems distances citizens from politics, which they see as a foreign activity. According to Latinobarômetro, in 2020, more than 70% of people were little or not interested in politics.
Unorthodox solutions to the crisis of democracy
Analyzes of democracies focused on institutional aspects, on relations between established formal powers, on the dynamics of party and electoral systems, among other aspects. However, very little attention is paid to the relationship between political practices and the everyday surroundings of citizenship, and their relationships and perceptions in relation to the components of democracy.
In 1977, the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Industrial Democracy, known as the “Bullock Report”, was published in England, which analyzed the state of companies in the country, the process of unionization of workers and their rights to participate in companies. Published more than forty years ago, the report brought the subject of industrial democracy to the forefront and marked the beginning of many experiences of trade union democracy and relations between economic sectors in several European countries, such as Sweden and Germany.
The report puts on the table that a democratic-representative political system can only function efficiently if vertical structures, such as industries and companies, also foster democratic practices. Industrial democracy refers to workers’ possibilities to influence, formally and informally, directly and indirectly, the course of processes within a company, including not only union leaders, but also organizational dynamics and even “outputs”.
In the 21st century, companies dedicated to new technologies, but not only these, largely define the future of many political and social processes. Companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, Tencent, Facebook and IBM have an impact on the world economy that accounts for almost 40% of all transactions, and e-commerce already accounts for 5% of the world’s GDP. This is the everyday world of millions of people and, facing a new world, we must think about new forms of democracy.
Halting deterioration means ceasing to artificially maintain the institutions that shaped it in the 20th century but no longer work. It implies changing them or replacing them with others that adapt to this new world, which has little to do with that of a few decades ago. Introducing democratic practices into everyday vertical relationships is not an easy task and can be counterproductive if it does not work well. But all mechanisms that allow citizens to see a concordance between their everyday life and politics in institutions can improve the quality of democracy and bring it closer to politics again.
De-bureaucratizing democracy is fundamental. But even the mechanisms of direct democracy that intend to solve the crisis of democracy often end up deepening it because they can be manipulated by the elites, as happened with the failed constituent process in Chile or with the instrumental use that the elites have given to referendums. and plebiscites.
If we want to save democracy, we must build democratic citizenship. Otherwise, we will remain at the mercy of political elites who easily succumb to authoritarian temptations.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
