Question

What do you now see as the critical issues that we as a nation face in order to create a well-functioning democracy?

Answer 1

Although some partisan division is good for democracy, one of the primary drivers of democratic decline in new and existing democracies is extreme division, with political opponents starting to see each other as mortal rivals, enabling incumbents to justify violations of democratic norms to constrain the opposition, and encouraging the opposition to use "any means possible" to gain pow pow. If citizens remain loyal to the political party, even if it violates key democratic norms, political polarization is a real threat to the functioning of democratic accountability.

The task of maintaining multi-ethnic societies is one of the most important problems facing all forms of democracy today. Redistribution policy has always been historically complicated by ethnic diversity, but the increasing ethnic diversity in both new and old democracies, partly motivated by immigration, has created various types in right-wing populist resistance and intensified political polarization. It is a problem for the parties of the right and the left. In the case of right-wing parties, there is a tendency to manipulate cultural diversity problems in order to gain control, which could also contribute to limitations and unfair representation of ethnic minorities, lowering the standard of the democracy

In recent years, renewed attention has been paid to the rise of populist parties and movements from Latin America and North America to Western and Eastern Europe. The confusion between populism and democracy is a complicated and important subject of study. Most political outsiders come to power in the name of "the people" but also do so in ways that seem to contradict the basic norms of liberal democracy.