Below is mostly an edit Steven Jay created from an op-ed I had written for the Washington Post. Thank you Steven! So much better than what I submitted....;-)
The big picture: Public
trust in democratic governments, institutions and our economic system has been declining for globally for two decades . Voters
are understandably angry because democratic systems are increasingly unable to protect
people, solve shared problems or prepare for what comes next.
CNN's Fareed Zakaria is partly right: technological change is moving faster than democratic institutions can adapt. Artificial intelligence, cyberweapons, biotechnology, global finance, and instant communication are rapidly reshaping the world with a poisonous mix of Truth decay. But technology only accelerates a deeper problem. Our national and global political democratic systems were designed around an outdated assumption: that people, states and nations can operate independently. They cannot.
Interdependence changes everything:
Everything in the known universe is
connected, interdependent and vulnerable.
National borders and powerful militaries cannot fully protect
us from:
- Pandemics and emerging
pathogens
- Cyberattacks and
biological weapons
- Climate disruption and
extreme weather
- Financial instability
- Terrorism and
political violence
- Artificial
intelligence used irresponsibly
Military power might deter another government. But it cannot independently stop most transnational threats. Thus, voters everywhere are frustrated and elect populist leaders. They have been promised security by institutions incapable without amendments to resolve today’s costly disruptions.
The structural problem:
The U.S. Constitution was
created by representatives of states that considered themselves independent. The result was an useful agreement but a deeply imperfect system that eventually a civil war that addressed its most
serious contradiction. Amendments were made. Even more later. More were needed later, but never made due to democratic choices.
The United Nations Charter was established in 1945 through a democratic agreement among sovereign nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) followed in 1948, offering a shared framework intended to reduce war, genocide, uses of Weapons of Mass Destruction, oppression and preventable human suffering. Again, amendments were possible, yet nations continue to this day to treat global cooperation as optional.
Achieving the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should not be optional. Adopted by every UN member state in 2015, these 17
goals address many of the conditions that drive global instability now: poverty, hunger,
poor health, inequality, weak institutions, environmental destruction conflicts, violent extremism....
The SDGs are not simply development goals. They are a global security strategy like the 30 human rights the UDHR numerated. Yet powerful nations, the three progressive movements, and thousands of organizations within each - continue to approach them as separate projects rather than as the comprehensive, holistic, and synergistic plan intended for prevention.
The mental problem:
The second obstacle is not constitutional. It is psychological. Human beings evolved in small groups where survival often depended on quickly identifying allies and reacting to threats. That instinct helped our ancestors survive. Unfortunately today, it still encourages us to divide the world into “us” and “them.” And majority rule amplifies this instinct. Elections reward immediate concerns, emotional reactions, yielding promises with short-term polies. National leaders focus on inflation, immigration, crime, and cultural conflict while paying less attention to the deeper global forces producing those pressures.
Democracy has been reactive rather than preventive. The problem is not that citizens are incapable of wisdom. The problem is that democratic systems rarely encourage the deeper thinking, long-term planning, and shared responsibility that an interdependent world requires.
Technology has outpaced politics:
After Hiroshima, it became clear that humanity’s technological power had exceeded the capacity of existing political institutions to control it. That gap has now only widened with every new technology.
Jen Easterly, then director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, summarized the challenge in 2021: “Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.” Her conclusion was equally important: protecting interconnected systems requires "more than a whole-of-government" or "whole-of-nation response". It requires "global" cooperation.
Artificial intelligence, cyberwarfare, and biotechnology now make that cooperation even more urgent. A dangerous technology developed or released in one place can create consequences everywhere. No country can be truly secure in an interconnected world by acting alone.
Cooperation does not require world government:
Improving global security does not require abolishing national sovereignty or creating a single world government. Governments already cooperate in aviation, communications, science, health, finance and transportation. States within federal systems share responsibilities without surrendering their local identities. The global eradication of smallpox offers the clearest example.
Countries with opposing ideologies, political systems and national interests worked together for 10 years during the Cold war to eliminate a disease that had killed more people than wars and genocides combined over the last century. National sovereignty survived. Humanity became safer. The same principle can be applied to climate disruption, pandemics, cyber threats, financial instability and violent extremism.
Security begins with human well-beings at the community level.
Real security starts in communities by addressing poverty, corruption, inequality, and failing public systems. These are not just moral or economic problems. They create conditions that contribute to conflict, forced migration, political instability, and violence.
Preventing these conditions is always less expensive than responding after systems collapse.
Achieving the SDGs—and fulfilling the rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights—would strengthen health, education, food security, public trust,
economic opportunity, prosperity, human security, and political stability.
In practical terms, this means
investing in the conditions that allow people to live with dignity.
It means protecting human rights, thus keeping people and nature healthy- as
essential and sustainable infrastructure.
What democracy must include:
The choice is not between nationalism and globalism. The real choice is between institutions that recognize interdependence, human rights, liberty and justice for all - or institutions that continue pretending independence is possible. Democratic systems must become better at:
- Preventing crises
instead of merely reacting to them
- Planning beyond
election cycles
- Protecting minority
rights alongside majority rule
- Coordinating across
borders
- Connecting local
action with global responsibility
- Measuring security
through human and environmental well-being
- Updating institutions
as technology and risks change
- Applying justice
Call it Democracy
Plus: democracy strengthened by cooperation, systems thinking,
human rights, long-term planning, justice - as the 'rule of law'.
National identity does not have to
disappear. Sovereignty does not have
to be abolished. Yet
The bottom line:
Interdependence is not an ideology. It is reality. The question is no longer whether nations will become more connected. They already are. The question is whether humanity will consciously build institutions capable of managing those connections —or wait until repeated crises force cooperation upon us.
Doing the same thing repeatedly while
expecting a different outcome is not resilience. It's insanity.
Democracy must adapt to reality. Our liberty, security, and prosperity depend on it.
Other Suggested titles: Let us know what you think.
- Democracy
Plus: Governing an Interdependent World
- The
Democracy Problem No Election Can Solve
- Our
Institutions Were Built for a World That No Longer Exists
- Interdependence
Is Reality. Democracy Must Catch Up
- Why
Majority Rule Is No Longer Enough
- Democracy’s
Deeper Crisis
- The
Illusion of Independence
- No
Nation Can be Secure an Interdependent World Alone
- From Reactive Democracy to Collective Securit
- Adapt Democracy—or Be Governed by Crisis
Strongest overall title: Democracy Is
Failing Because It Has Failed to Evolve
Strongest provocative title: The Democracy
Problem No Election Can Solve
Strongest solutions-focused
title: Democracy Plus: Governing an Interdependent World
Steven Jay, Executive Producer and Co-Founder, www.mobilizednews.com
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