In its latest issue, German magazine Der Spiegel laments a rising global authoritarianism. Der Spiegel’s hypocrisy on this issue aside, its thesis is also wrong.
For a start, while the magazine correctly identifies China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan as truly authoritarian leaders, its inclusion of President Trump in that list is problematic.
Yes, Trump’s attitude towards the media and his opponents is hostile. But at the margin of effective power, Trump’s authoritarian sympathies don’t translate into actual authoritarianism. His political opponents, for example, are not being jailed or assassinated. The media is not being censored — in fact, every time he fires off a tweet attacking journalists, Trump only inspires the media to come after him more aggressively. Trump’s ability to constrain the judiciary is also inherently limited. No one imagines for even one second that he will make himself president for life.
Trump’s rule is thus different in kind, not just in degree, from actual authoritarians like Xi, Putin, and Erdogan.
Yet Der Spiegel’s broader theme of rising authoritarianism is also a scaremongering delusion. While it’s true that populist-authoritarian movements now hold power in Poland and Hungary, those nations remain democratic. And the U.S. continues to guard a rules-based democratic international order, contesting Chinese and Russian efforts to displace it.
Most importantly, there are many more global examples of exciting democratic growth than there are of concerning authoritarian entrenchment.
In India, the world’s most populous democracy and the global democratic order’s best chance of 21st-century consolidation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is energizing his economy and strengthening the rule of law. Next door in Pakistan, a political awakening is challenging the old order of political patronage.
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is choosing Western modernity over of Islamic extremism. Iraqi voters have finally chosen a government that is not dominated by any outside country — either the U.S. or Iran.
In South America, Colombia is no longer a drug-mafia state defined by relentless terrorism, but rather a fast-growing economy and a vibrant democracy with vigorous intraparty political squabbles. Similarly, Brazil is now decapitating its corrupt political order and advancing the rule of law. In contrast, authoritarian states like Nicaragua and Venezuela have never been more isolated.
And although many African nations remain undemocratic and profoundly corrupt, none of these can challenge the U.S.-led rules-based international order.
So yes, China and Russia pose ever greater challenges, but the international democratic order is arguably as strong as it’s ever been.
