Democracies of the World Unite! Populists, Strongmen Rising

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Opinion: Democracies unite! If liberal democracies that respect human rights and are based on the rule of law want to be role models for repressive countries, they should come together in a new institutional form, says Alexander Görlach. DW, Dec. 11, *2019.

At the present time it seems outrageous to speak out on behalf of a new multilateral institution. The current trend is moving in the opposite direction, with so-called "strong men" around the world propagating a return to the rule of the strong over the weak. To these populists, this means that international rules-based agreements, as well as the institutions that uphold and enhance them, have become obsolete. They badmouth the so-called "elite," which — unsettled by the approval the autocrats are receiving — in turn paralyzes the institutions through stagnation and thus indirectly underpins the populists' assertion that these multilateral institutions are of no use to "average people."

The European Union is being weakened by political forces driving the alliance's demise from within, for example from within Parliament. A few national governments have gone so far in their rejection of European values that it actually seems impossible for them to remain in the EU. The European community keeps them in the fold, however, because it is assumed that it is better to keep opponents close rather than booting them out.

Children of the Cold War: NATO, too, is in crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron diagnosed it as suffering from "brain death"; he was vehemently contradicted. But the conflict has revealed that lack of agreement about the present and future of the defense alliance. Both confederations, NATO and the EU, were created during the Cold War. They reflect the spirit and conflict of that time in their structure and in the narrative that holds them and their members together. After the Soviet Union, the common threat, fell apart, those nations involved should have worked together to reform the institutions and make them fit for the new era.

The United Nations has also been affected by the end of the bipolar world. The current dividing lines no longer run between the free and communist worlds, but between countries whose order is based on the recognition of human rights and those in which these same human rights are constantly being trampled on. In this global assembly, Russia and China have the power to torpedo every constructive idea and demoralize all other actors who want to work well in the long term.

New institution needed: What we need today is a new institution, a union of all democracies that are already called "like-minded countries" in diplomacy, but which so far lack an official home base.

The people of Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, Mongolia, Uruguay and South Africa have more commonalities than differences between them. Their nation states rely on the recognition of human rights and on a legal system that is built on these rights.

The legitimacy of these states is based precisely on this recognition of human freedom and its integrity. It is reflected in the view that everyone has civil and social rights...

More, https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-democracies-unite/a-51622379