Harmful populism is weakening the western democracy, which benefits Russia and China

Harmful populism in Europe and in the West as a whole has been increasing ever since the start of the 2010s. The election year of 2024 will go down in history, since almost the half of the nations of the world, and almost all ”democracies” are having an election this year, including the European parliament. This election year of 2024 will not be a happy election year nor a peaceful one, since due to the increasing popularity of populists and populism[1], the people might be voting for the wrong candidates, and probably make the world a worse place it is today.

The decade of 2020s are a turning point in the recent history, and the decisions and actions we make this decade will define the next decades in history.[2] Voting for populists in this election year might not be a good idea, since their ideas might be harmful for our society and for the survival of the western democracy.[3]

A victory for them might mean a victory for Russia and China, the enemies of the western democracy and the democracy as a whole in the world.[4] We can still save our society without polarizing the people and causing more division in our society. A functioning democratic system needs differing opinions, but those opinions shouldn’t be alienating each other.[5]

Why are they rising?

There are a lot of reasons why the people in EU and the western countries as a whole are voting for the populist parties and politicians. For example, the rising costs of living, their distrust of their leaders, negative effects of immigration[6], polarization caused by echo chambers in social media[7], the economic inequality[8] et cetera. Especially the rising polarization between the young men and women in our society[9] is a reason why the populists from the left and right are rising.

You can see the link between the polarization and populism from the left and the right. But why is polarization rising? There are a lot of reasons for that. Social media and echo chambers have played a role in the rising polarization of people, due to them only seeing content from their side, and not from the other.

The polarization between the men and women is caused by their inequal position in our society. The young men’s problems are not listened to[10], and their level of education had been decreasing in the last years[11]. As the young people’s mental health had been decreasing in the last years, the radical influencers from the left and the right have been on the rise.[12] The people who are lonely, depressed and are doing badly in their lives are more prone to fall to influencers from left and right.

In order to defeat the populists, we need to fix the problems in our society, improve mental health services for people who need it, help the ones in need to get their lives in track, and improve our society in a way that it benefits the people.

How Putin and Xi are benefiting from it

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are obviously NOT the biggest fans of democracy[13][14], since they are both dictators who have no regard of human rights. They both have their hate against democracy and the Western countries in common[15], which means they are both working together to weaken the western democracies and dissolve EU and NATO that way. The many populist movements in Europe are getting their funding from Russia, especially the German AfD or Alternative für Deutschland in German.[16]

Should the Euroskeptic and anti-NATO populists win, it is a victory for them, since all they want is the western world to fall in their favor, and let them drive their own interests in the world without any other power to stop them.

Think twice before voting for populists

Ask yourself a question. Do you really want to believe what the populists are saying? Do you really want to give victory to Putin and Xi, the enemies of the Western Democracy? While they might have good ideas, they might fool you into believing that they are the best (Although that is what the most of the politicians are doing :D). There are already evidence of what they have been doing, and to be honest, they did not really change everything to the best direction.[17]

I still encourage people to vote, since voting is the lifeblood of democracy. You need to really think it through first who you vote in the elections, because after all, you are choosing what kind of a direction do you want for your future. Here’s a tip for you: Do a little background check on the party’s or candidate’s beliefs before you cast your vote. Also, not all the populists are always evil.

US and NATO are better than China and Russia, actually

While the United States is not the perfect democratic utopia and they have a plethora of problems[18], there is still freedom of press there and you wouldn’t get sent to prison or punished if you despise the current president, unlike in Russia or China.[19] Also in the most European liberal democracies you wouldn’t get sent to jail if you criticize or make fun of the current leader or government. While the United States have done some useless wars which had led to nowhere[20], the NATO is after all a military alliance which also provides protection to it’s member states.[21]

EU does have it’s problems, but they can be fixed

The European Union is not perfect[22]. We have many problems with the draconian bureaucracy[23], policies that don’t benefit all the people, poor immigration policy, the undemocratic veto policy[24], etc. Fixing those problems is not that difficult, we just have some work to do in order to fix them. The European Union needs to be reformed towards more direct democracy that gives the people’s voice to be heard.

Not all populism is harmful, though

While the populist politicians have some good ideas about being in the people’s side and trying to make their lives better, they should think who they geopolitically support. Supporting Russia and/or China doesn’t really benefit the people, since they both are authoritarian regimes, who don’t give a damn about the people living in them. If they win, the western democracies may become vassals to them. In a sense, it is better to support the United States and NATO than Russia or China.

Also, there are some politicians and parties who have populist leaning but still support human rights, so not all populists are evil.

Conclusion

You might have been thinking that I am demonizing populists, but no, I have not been demonizing populist politicians in this article. I have been encouraging people to think twice before they cast their vote to the populists. Some populists even support NATO and are Pro-US. As I said earlier, do a little background check on the candidate before you cast your vote. Please note, that political polarization is a threat to our democracy, and some of the populist politicians are the ones who are polarized and driving the rise of polarization.

Sources

[1]https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/populism_0.pdf[2]https://medium.com/geopolitics-in-focus/the-2020s-will-be-a-decade-of-revolutionary-change-e2553c90995[3]https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/populism-and-democracy[4]https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/chinas-threat-to-global-democracy/ https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/democracyinperil/543/why-vladimir-putin-is-a-threat-to-democracy-and-peace/[5]https://dividedwefall.org/three-dirty-little-secrets-to-improve-your-political-conversations/ (An article with advice on improving political discussions more healthier) [6]https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/23792-whats-impact-immigration-according-europeans-and-a[7]https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/echo-chambers-filter-bubbles-and-polarisation-literature-review[8]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7732181/[9]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/02/first-edition-gen-z-men-women-political[10]https://www.happiness.com/magazine/health-body/male-loneliness-time-bomb-killing-men/[11]https://universitybusiness.com/men-are-falling-behind-in-higher-ed-and-it-may-not-be-letting-up/[12]https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/03/andrew-tate-symptom-not-problem-why-young-men-turning-against-feminism[13]https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/chinas-threat-to-global-democracy/[14]https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/democracyinperil/543/why-vladimir-putin-is-a-threat-to-democracy-and-peace/[15]https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/16/old-friend-putin-arrives-in-china-for-state-visit-summit-with-xi-jinping[16]https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-mep-maximilian-krah-alternative-for-germany-afd-russia-china-payments-spying/[17][18]https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/examples-of-social-issues-in-the-us/[19]https://www.businessinsider.com/vladimir-putin-law-illegal-insult-him-government-2019-3[20]https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/06/how-us-funded-abuses-led-failure-afghanistan[21]https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm[22]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2023/747122/EPRS_BRI(2023)747122_EN.pdf[23]https://www.pubaffairsbruxelles.eu/opinion-analysis/why-do-so-many-people-hate-eu-bureaucracy/[24]https://neweasterneurope.eu/2024/03/08/kidnapping-eu-misuse-of-the-veto-power-on-enlargement/

From the eyes of Eltskale