The always imbecilic Kaushik basu writes in Project Syndicate of
Globalization vs. Democracy
Unchecked economic globalization has empowered the leaders of major powers, particularly the United States, to wield disproportionate influence over the well-being of billions of people who have no say in selecting these leaders.
The reverse is the case. Without globalization, US 'exorbitant privilege' on the one hand and cheap Soviet quotas of oil and other essentials, meant that leaders of other countries, whether elected or not, were either at the mercy of their Superpower patron or else had turned into corrupt Dynastic shitholes.
This erosion of global democracy is having far-reaching geopolitical consequences.
There has been no erosion. Basu served a Dynasty in India. He didn't get that Dynasticism is the antithesis of Democracy.
Democracy is in retreat across much of the world,
Where? Not Turkey. Erdogan survived a coup. Not Hungary. Orban survived concerted opposition from the Brussels bureaucracy. Where else? China? It was never a democracy. Russia? When has Russia been a democracy? Under the drunkard Yeltsin? That was a shit-show.
with authoritarian leaders
Oh. The silly man means Trump. Or does he have something against Lula? Macron can't get a third term.
and extremist movements
like the Republican Party- right?
gaining momentum amid widespread discontent with established political parties and institutions.
If there is widespread discontent with a party- like the one Basu served- then it loses seats to other parties. If there is discontent with them, they too shrink. Basu doesn't get this.
As democratic governance comes under strain,
where? Basu hadn't noticed that the Government he served wasn't democratic. It was corrupt and dynastic.
our most cherished ideals, such as equal freedom and rights for all, are increasingly at risk.
Nice Italian lady must have equal freedom. The Prime Minister she appoints must not.
Democratic backsliding has many causes, including
Dynasticism
the depredations of Big Tech
which has had no effect whatsoever
and the rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation.
see above.
But the one that plays a critical role is emerging from a strange concoction of unchecked economic globalization and severe political balkanization.
In the opinion of a fucking cretin.
This has enabled major powers like the United States to wield disproportionate influence over the well-being of billions of people worldwide, who have no political voice.
This nutter doesn't understand that his people were ruled over by the Brits for 190 years. The US defeated Japan which wanted to take over from them. Kennedy helped protect India from Mao's Red Army. Fortunately, the China-Soviet split came in the nick of time but India only avoided famine because of American PL480 food shipments.
The bedrock principle of democracy is that people affected by the decisions of political leaders should have a say in selecting those leaders.
Nonsense! The bedrock principles is that voters in a particular country vote for their leaders. They don't get to vote for the leader of some other country even if that country feeds and defends them. That is why Basu's parents couldn't vote for Kennedy or LBJ even if America was protecting or feeding India.
This idea is so fundamental that even authoritarian countries like Russia and North Korea hold elections, ostensibly allowing citizens to “choose” their leaders.
No. Russia and North Korea's leaders like picturing themselves as greatly loved by 99 percent of the population.
Of course, these elections pose no real threat to the existing regime. In North Korea’s 2023 election, for example, Kim Jong-un’s Workers’ Party received 99.91% of the votes.
When his daddy died, millions wept in the streets. It is dangerous not to love the Supreme Leader with all your heart and soul.
To comprehend the problem, imagine that US presidents were elected solely by voters in the District of Columbia.
He is elected solely by the Electoral College.
Every resident of Washington would have the right to vote,
including diplomats and children? I think not.
and the candidate with the most votes would become president. Even if this process were free from fraud, it would be difficult to consider the US a democracy under such conditions.
Why? If that is the arrangement the rest of the country wants, the country is democratic. We may not like the Electoral College system, but there is nothing we can do about it.
Elected leaders would naturally prioritize the interests of Washington residents over those of Americans everywhere else, whose well-being would have little to no impact on their chances of being re-elected.
No. They'd be careful to keep the rest of America happy. Otherwise they will turn up, kill the current residents and vote themselves into power.
While this scenario may seem far-fetched,
it is stupid
people all around the world find themselves in the same position as a disenfranchised Texan or Michigander.
There are plenty of 'disenfranchised' Texans. Surely Basu knows this? They are pissed off because they pay taxes but don't get a say in how those taxes are spent.
The accelerated economic globalization of the past four decades, driven by increasingly interconnected supply chains and the rapid advance of digital technologies, has facilitated the free flow of capital and goods across national borders. But this also means that major powers are now able to affect individuals and communities all over the world with just a few clicks.
Previously, the President of the US or the Chairman of the Soviet Union could bark orders into a phone and fuck up distant countries most grievously. That power appears to have decreased. The US lost the war on terror. Russia didn't get the walkover it expected in Ukraine.
As matters stand, the well-being of billions of people hinges on the decisions made by the sitting US president.
So everybody should get to vote in US elections even if they don't pay US taxes. Democracy is about 'no representation no fucking taxation'.
While American leaders have the power to disrupt numerous economies by severing supply chains or manipulating financial flows, the citizens of these countries have no influence over US elections.
Nor do they have to pay taxes to America.
Similarly, Ukrainian or Georgian citizens have little say over who rules Russia, even though who rules Russia can have a large influence on their well-being. (of course, even Russians have no say over who rules Russia)
So what? Russia has little say over who rules Ukraine or Georgia.
This erosion of global democracy
caused by the fact that few Nigerians or Norwegians get to vote in Russian elections
could have far-reaching geopolitical consequences.
e.g. the Pakistanis may get real pissed off that they have no say in choosing the leader of Paraguay.
While the US government puts considerable effort into managing its domestic economy effectively, it has adopted a cavalier approach to foreign policy.
under Biden? Well, perhaps Basu prefers Trump.
The ongoing crisis in the Middle East is a case in point.
Iranians were upset that they didn't get to vote in Israeli elections.
US President Joe Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s war against Hamas over the past six months has benefited Israel’s embattled prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. But as US Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have pointed out, the goals of ordinary Israelis – who want to end the war and bring home the hostages – differ significantly from those of Netanyahu and his far-right political allies, who seek to prolong the conflict to maintain their hold on power.
The goals of a guy who wants to keep his job diverge from the goals of those who want to take that job from him. This only happens due to global democracy got eroded and nice Pakistanis weren't getting to vote in Paraguayan elections.
This underscores the anti-democratic nature of hegemonic powers. If Israeli citizens could vote in US presidential elections,
they can if they are dual citizens
America’s Middle East policy might have been markedly different.
No. The Israeli vote is not sufficiently cohesive.
Such a policy would likely have aligned more closely with the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians, rather than with Netanyahu’s political agenda.
Netanyahu wants to stay in power. That's why he wants to do what the majority of Israeli voters want.
I hasten to add that matters would likely be worse if Trump won the US election. But I suspect that the Democratic Party would win, but with a rather different Middle East policy, if ordinary Israelis, and not just Netanyahu and his cronies, had a voice in the US election.
Biden is changing his policy in line with what American voters want. It appears that the Arab-American voter has become very well worth courting.
There is no easy solution to this conundrum. Israelis will not be voting in US elections anytime soon,
There are 200,000 dual citizens in Israel and perhaps the same number of Israelis settled in America.
and Ukrainians will not influence the selection of Russia’s next leader. The advance of digital technology and globalization, and the consequent erosion of global democracy, highlights the trade-offs and vulnerabilities inherent in the current international order.
But foreigners have never had voting rights in countries to which they pay no tax.
As I argued in my book The Republic of Beliefs, it is possible to establish binding laws and regulations even without direct state intervention.
It is also possible to defeat invaders and put down insurrections. It is simply very very fucking unlikely.
The key, as Eric Posner and Cass Sunstein have also pointed out, is to foster appropriate norms that are self-enforcing.
No such norms exist when it comes to stuff which endangers health and wealth to any considerable degree.
At the same time, we must strive to create more effective multilateral organizations and international charters aimed at strengthening democratic governance worldwide.
Basu can't create shit. He served a Dynasty happily enough. But he was useless and thus was discarded quickly enough. Now he is babbling about how every Chinese person should have a vote in the US elections. What a cretin!
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