this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023
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[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 99 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

This is sadly so obvious to see, that you don't need a report to know that.

Romania and Slovakia — are becoming the center of democratic growth in Europe

The report is even already way off regarding Slovakia, who just elected an authoritarian with sympathies towards Russia.
Romania is a bit shaky too, they have very little trust in the democratic government, and could probably easily be swayed by a populist who says what they want to hear.

It doesn't mention USA, Brazil, Argentina that are all becoming more shaky too, instead of stabilizing.
It also doesn't mention China, that also became more authoritarian, with Xi grabbing even more power much like Putin.

Being young in the 70's, I never in my worst nightmares imagined things would ever become this bad.
When the Berlin Wall was broken, I never imagined it could become this bad. It's kind of worse than before the wall was broken, because USA alone is such a huge influence, and Republican have gone completely nuts for Authoritarianism for some reason???

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Republican have gone completely nuts for Authoritarianism for some reason???

two reasons:

  1. in 2010 they got to gerrymander the fuck out of districts and thus got a whole bunch of safe seats where even total wackos can win primaries and then go on to safely win the general

  2. the republican's whole ideology and support base is crumbling away and it's basically unstoppable at this point. old racists who fondly remember jim crow are all retired and young people are leaving christianaity at a consistent rate of around 1%/year. their economic policies are totally out of whack with what the bottom 90% need or want and no one believes tax cuts on the rich will benefit anyone but the rich. their only hope is overthrowing the government and installing a dictator and everyone knows it

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Republican have gone completely nuts for Authoritarianism for some reason???

Conservatives have always been authoritarian. The difference between now and before is that decades ago, the political parties were aligned differently with some Southern conservatives being Democrats and some Northern progressives being Republicans, so the overall party platforms were more moderate. Also, conservatives back then couldn't admit to their desires to go full-on "papers, please" because the Soviet Union existed as a geopolitical enemy that they needed to maintain ideological distance from. (In contrast, they're happy to be buddy-buddy with fascist Russia, since it's right-wing authoritarian instead of left-wing authoritarian.)

TL;DR: Because coalitions and geopolitics have realigned, conservatives can express the true agenda they've always had in a way they couldn't before.

[–] blazeknave@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm xennial and lucky enough to remember a few yrs before the wall and have context to appreciate that most of my life has been during the most peaceful period (a blip) of human history. I think a lot of younger people are taken a back by this all bc they never thought about it and in some states aren't even being taught about it. Do most of your peers share your sentiment at the end of your comments?

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Republican have gone completely nuts for Authoritarianism for some reason

I feel like this is a power grab. With everyone online and interconnected, it's a lot easier to see where the real problems are. Our collective blame shifts more and more to the top and it's becoming a lot harder to defend the actions of the rich.

I feel like that's a source for all of this, not just the USA. They know the party is over, but they'll fight like hell to keep it going.

[–] trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

As for Slovakia, not all hope is lost.

The party that was elected has been ruling for ages, so they're very entrenched especially for older voters.

There is a new-ish party (PS) that gained a lot of momentum in this election, and I have even better hopes for them in the next election.

[–] emmeram@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

The article is about direction, not position.

The report is even already way off regarding Slovakia, who just elected an authoritarian with sympathies towards Russia. Romania is a bit shaky too, they have very little trust in the democratic government, and could probably easily be swayed by a populist who says what they want to hear.

The article uses the report to show that Slovakia and Romania have improved relative to their prior measurement. It is silent on their positions relative to other democracies.

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 72 points 1 year ago (60 children)

Democracy is the worst form of governance, apart from all others

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[–] lustyargonian@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago

Yup, it matches my observations as well.

[–] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (21 children)

What's your definition of democracy baby?

What do you consider kleptocracy ?

Don't you know I vote until it hurts me baby

Don't you think it's time you had Marx with me?

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[–] febra@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Funny that Politico are the ones reporting on this.. given the fact that they're owend by Axel Springer

[–] hh93@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

At least it's not Murdoch - but that's a very low bar

[–] Smacks@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

US is about to fall into a semi-fascist state next year, so it's gonna get way worse

[–] rammer@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 year ago

If you are referring to Trump, it's far from a done deal.

Though some would say that the US has been a fascist state for a while.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

Really... hadn't noticed.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 6 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


“In Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Slovakia, Israel, and the United States, just to name the most familiar examples, the erosion of democratic norms has been engineered by leaders claiming to speak in the name of, and with the authority of, the people,” the new report warned.

IDEA’s report bases its analysis on 173 countries and takes into account 17 metrics ranging from civil liberties to judicial independence to credible elections to the rule of law, using the most recent figures from 2022.

EU countries Hungary and Poland are still the “most notable examples illustrating the bloc’s limited ability to exert more direct influence over the (non-)democratic trajectory of its member states,” the report said.

Poland — which is set for a change of political direction after election results earlier this month that saw the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party defeated — might now be on a more positive trajectory.

In contrast to Hungary and Poland’s recent performance, other Central and Eastern European countries — such as Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia — are becoming the center of democratic growth in Europe due to notable five-year improvements, the report said.

According to the report: “Ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been implicated in schemes to shut down critical media and purchase positive coverage by using public funds through the Ministry of Finance.”


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