Democracy isn't fragile

Authoritarian populism rises as wars multiply, testing our resilience and our future.

- Gwynne Dyer

Democracy is in retreat or at least on the defensive almost everywhere, while wars are getting bigger and more frequent. The trend lines are frighteningly bad.

There are big wars in Ukraine and Sudan and another one is only on temporary hold in Gaza. Smaller wars are underway in Yemen, Myanmar and Thailand/Cambodia and a larger and nastier one will start if the US attacks Venezuela. It hasn’t been this bad for a long time.

Similarly with politics: the biggest countries are already controlled by authoritarian populists (India and the US) or outright dictators (Russia and China). Britain, France, Germany and Brazil could also easily fall into populist hands at the next election. All those regimes except China and India would deny climate change, so that disaster would accelerate.

We can’t wish this all away by putting it in perspective. The risks are real and the problems are urgent. But they are all problems caused by human behaviour, which means that human beings can fix them.