Why could democracy fail?

#30

Salute,

This week, I was at a radio discussion on the topic of "The Defensive Democracy" ("Die wehrhafte Demokratie"). I left the event with few answers but one crucial question.

Society is apparently changing (for example, because of technical progress, and as a result, how we reach for information; or think of the changing party landscapes in Europe with more and more right-wing populists), so when we think of that change, how do democracies have to change structurally to remain functional and steadfast?

There was no shortage of pleas at the event. Pleas to become more committed to democracy. But if you look into history and read about why democracies collapsed, I have never read that there were too few calls to preserve democracy. Instead, you read about solid reasons. Looking back, you always discover blind spots in democracy that most people didn't see or perhaps couldn't see at the time.

So what could be the reasons today why our democracy has become fragile? Ten years from now, if democracy has failed, what will we say? Why did it fail?

If we find answers to these questions, we will have the key to strengthening democracy.

✊,

Johannes Eber