AGE OF PERSONACRACIES

Last year, I spoke of a world in flux and flex mode. Today, it just feels like flux and flex, hyper scaled, and we have a world order in free fall and global trade in a chokehold.

- By KALLI PURIE

We watch almost hypnotised as war strategy is decided on the fly. Everything we thought was sacrosanct is suddenly negotiable. Borders. Decorum. Safety. Ethics. Rules of war. The currency of goodness. The semblance of peace and prosperity.

Theocracies and monarchies were always shrouded in a veil of absolute power. What's under siege now is this century's most revered political system, DEMOCRACY itself. Its institutions unable to contain the big personalities of their leaders. The checks and balances within which democratic leadership operated have been breached. We have now what I am calling PERSONACRACIES. Democracies that revolve around a personality. It seems democracies can also legitimise absolute power. Some may even say that's the need of the hour.

On the eve of this war, Saturday, February 28, we had just returned from Tehran. We had gone to do an exclusive interview of Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who is today a household name. After his interview with us in a mesmerising hall of mirrors, he left for the peace talks in Geneva. Our flight was a day later, so we wandered the streets of Tehran. A window into Iran has been restricted and we were curious.