Social Cohesion
The Western Consensus

WESTERN DEMOCRACY IS THREATENING SUICIDE ... Intelligence Squared Debate

Burgess COMMENTARY
I thought about going to this debate but in the end went to something else. I decided against going because the debate premise is essentially irrelevant, and a better discussion or debate should be around understanding the issues and discussion of how issues may be addressed. The problems of modern western democracies have been growing slowly slowly for all of my adult life ... more than 50 years ... and rather little has been done to take address the problems. The big political parties that have been in power for a very long time don't seem to have much of an understanding of how the complex global socio-enviro-economic system works ... and the mainstream mass media and more recently social media and niche media do little to help.
Without writing a long essay, I argue that we have to understand what it is that is making so many people disillusioned about political, social and economic leadership and then to go about actually changing things so that these problems get fixed. There are a multitude of problems and there need to be a multitude of solutions. This is what multi-impact multi-perspective true value impact accounting aims to help to do!
Peter Burgess

WESTERN DEMOCRACY IS THREATENING SUICIDE


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Debaters For The Motion

Bernard-Henri Levy French Philosopher & Journalist
Bernard-Henri Lévy is a philosopher, activist, and filmmaker. His most recent book, The Genius of Judaism, was published in January 2017 by Random House. His New York Times best-sellers include American Vertigo, Barbarism with a Human Face, and Who Killed Daniel Pearl? His writing has appeared in a wide range of publications throughout Europe and the United States. His films include the documentaries Bosna!, The Oath of Tobruk, Peshmerga, and The Battle of Mosul. Lévy is co-founder of the antiracist group SOS Racisme. He has served on diplomatic missions for the French government.

Yascha Mounk Lecturer, Harvard University & Senior Fellow, New America
Yascha Mounk is a lecturer on government at Harvard University and a senior fellow at New America. A columnist at Slate and the host of The Good Fight podcast, he is an expert on the rise of populism and the crisis of liberal democracy. His next book, The People versus Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It, will be published by Harvard University Press in January 2018 and translated into six languages.

Debaters Against The Motion

Clive Crook Columnist, Bloomberg View
Clive Crook is a Bloomberg View columnist and writes editorials on economics, finance and politics. Prior to this, he served as a senior editor at The Atlantic, and as the chief Washington commentator for Financial Times. He worked for more than 20 years at The Economist, as economics correspondent, Washington correspondent, economics editor, and deputy editor. In that last role he guided the magazine’s editorial line across its interests in business, politics, and international relations. He previously served as an official in the British finance ministry and the Government Economic Service.

Kori Schake Research Fellow, Hoover Institution
Kori Schake is a distinguished research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She is the editor, with Jim Mattis, of the book Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military and teaches Thinking About War at Stanford University. She is a contributing editor at the Atlantic, and also writes for War on the Rocks and Foreign Policy. Schake has served in various policy roles including at the White House, Department of Defense, and the State Department. During the 2008 presidential election, she was senior policy advisor on the McCain-Palin campaign.
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Populism - Why Now?
Anger over economic stagnation and social change are driving people to vote in anger, and in protest, argues Yascha Mounk.

Democracy on the Edge?
Bernard-Henri Levy argues that democracies can, in fact, die and that modern political attitudes, and technology, are fueling democratic decline.

Le Carré’s Warning to The West
Author and former intelligence officer John le Carré recently compared modern political sentiments to the rise of fascism in the 1930s. Kori Schake responds.

2017 America is Not 1938 Germany
Kori Schake and Bernard-Henri Levy debate the strength, and fragility, of democratic states throughout history and in modern times.

Democracy Is Robust, Not Fragile
Is democracy a natural state of humanity? Or are we destined for autocracy? Clive Crook weighs in.

Will American Elections Stand?
Clive Crook questions whether or not Donald Trump will accept the results of upcoming American elections and what that would mean for the U.S.

Are We Sliding Into Fascism?
Will threats to democracy be obvious? Or could society slowly descend into authoritarianism? Yascha Mounk and Clive Crook debate.

Unrest in Catalonia
Should we see violence in Catalonia as a warning of things to come in the West? Yascha Mounk dives in.
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Do the populist and nationalist uprisings that led to Donald Trump and Brexit signal Western democracy’s certain decline? Or can recent events be seen as part of a healthy and regenerative antidote to policies that have challenged liberal institutions and marginalized the middle class? Some predict that a resilient liberal world order will rally to triumph over fear, xenophobia and fractured political parties – others say that support for autocratic alternatives is on the rise.
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For The Motion

* Xenophobia, racism, and nationalism are on the rise. From support of far-right candidates in France and Brexit in Europe to the rise of Donald Trump in the U.S., people around the world are embracing policies and attitudes that are inconsistent with liberal democracy.
* The liberal world order is losing ground. Long a beacon of democracy around the world, the United States is turning its back on global institutions and leaving room for alternative powers, such as China and Russia, to seize influence.
* Fed up with the economic challenges of globalism and dismayed by the power of the political elite, Westerners are embracing social change over political stability and – increasingly – considering alternatives to elected democratic leadership.
* With his executive orders on immigration, attacks on the free press, condemnation of court decisions, and firing of James Comey, President Donald Trump has challenged democratic traditions and exposed weaknesses in America's political system.

Against The Motion

* The populism and nationalism that brought about Donald Trump and Brexit does not pose a threat to liberal democracy. Rather, these events represent the legitimate exercise of power by frustrated voters who feel their nations have gone off-course.
* The Trump administration has strengthened democratic institutions both at home and abroad. Rather than ceding power to an unconventional leader, institutions ranging from global governance organizations to local courts have gained popular support and kept the White House in check.
* A resurgence of far-right ideologues has energized citizens around the world to engage in the democratic process. Through support of establishment political parties and civil society organizations, these citizens are strengthening their democracies and combating the xenophobia and racism that has long-been present in their countries and in politics.
* Western democracy is not merely defined by American global leadership. America's allies, including France and Germany, are poised to assume the role of safeguards of the liberal world order as the United States turns inward.