Democracy - Foundations and Challenges

This is the title of a series of highly topical lectures at Freiburg University during the summer semester of 2024, presented within the framework of the studium generale. 2024 is a super-election year not only in the States but also in Europe (European Parliament) and Germany (three state elections). Will the results of these elections celebrate democracy?

These lectures are also known as Samstags-UNI (Saturday University). This morning, Red Baron went downtown with the aim of getting hold of a printed copy of the full program of the studium generale.

So I came to listen to Professor Rainer Forst from the University of Frankfurt talking about Demokratie in Zeiten der Regression. Normative und zeitdiagnostische Überlegungen (Democracy in times of regression; normative and time-diagnostic considerations).

Everyone knows that democracy is not limited to electing new members of parliament every four or five years, who then pass laws and thus decide the fate of their fellow citizens.

 Parliaments are elected in many countries around the world, but some of these states are not democracies. Here is a map you have seen before showing the status of democracy worldwide.

There are dictatorships with a one-party system that is sold as Popular Democracy. Alleged democratic states are curtailing the powers of the third branch, i.e., the judiciary. Restrictions on freedom of expression go hand in hand with restricted freedom of the press. There are democracies where not every vote cast counts the same.

In a parliamentary, liberal, and representative democracy, all people are equal. However, this also means that the majority's decision must not only consider the minority but must actually protect it. In a true democracy, there must be no exclusion of people. Do parliaments decide in the interest of the people or in the interest of a particular party?

One of the major weaknesses of the current world order is its growing social inequality. According to Professor Forst, the banking crisis of 2008 was one of the biggest disasters in recent years. Here, taxpayers had to bail out the big banks, which have not ensured that the difference between rich and poor has become smaller since.

However, the majority of the poor do not rebel against the minority of the rich. Instead, most people see the problem of immigration as even more severe than global climate change.

The difficulty is that the above problems can no longer be solved at a national level, only at an international level. We are, therefore, particularly called upon to speak with one voice as a European democracy. Wishful thinking?

All efforts are needed, and much remains to be done to defend our democracies against authoritarian, illiberal, and populist attacks.

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