US President Joe Biden convened a two-day global Summit for Democracy in the virtual format on December 9-10, 2021. What was the purpose, need or rationale for having the event, to which political and business leaders, officials, civil society activists and journalists from some 110 “undemocratically selected” countries were invited? Did the exercise achieve its objectives, stated or otherwise? It would be pertinent to delve a bit deeper.
First the invitees. By betraying political expediency in selecting invitees instead of following transparent criteria, the US may have damaged its relations with several countries including in South Asia. Inviting jihadi Pakistan and leaving out Bangladesh as well as Sri Lanka defies logic. It also gives credence to the view that Pakistan is America’s blind spot. It encourages the former to continue with its machinations, which imperils peace and stability in the region and beyond. Yet far from being appreciative, Islamabad declined to join the event, in solidarity with its mentor China, which had not been invited. Hope Washington realizes how rapidly its clout is diminishing.
Again, simple folks would like to know how is Singapore any less democratic than the Philippines? Manila made the cut to the invitees’ list, but Singapore did not. What then is the definition of democracy and who can appraise the democracy quotient of a state?
Different Definitions of Democracy
Not surprisingly, there are a number of self-appointed western referees who have appropriated the authority to pass judgment on every country. Take the ‘venerable’ Freedom House, for example. It has determined that India (67), Philippines (56), Hong Kong (52), Malaysia (51), Singapore (48), Bangladesh (39), Pakistan (37) and Turkey (32) are all ‘partly free’ but the US (83) is ‘free’.
That the sitting President of the country encouraged his angry and emotionally charged followers to march to the Capitol Hill not exactly with benign intentions; or that hundreds of distraught kids of illegal migrants were separated from their parents under the 2018 ‘zero-tolerance’ plan; or that African Americans were 20 times more likely to be imprisoned than a white person—do not make the world’s oldest democracy any less free.
Now please do not ask ‘uncharitable’ questions like who pays the piper? In 2021, the (un)Freedom House received 93 per cent of its total revenues ($59.7 million out of $64.2 million) in federal US grants. I rest my case!
As such it may be fair to say that democracy, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder. The fact remains that democracy and ‘love’ are two of the most misused or even abused words. The world’s most oppressive and authoritarian state—North Korea—is not bashful of calling itself the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
One of the popular definitions of democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Repressive China styles itself as a People’s Republic. In a bizarre move, the Chinese State Council released a white paper—China: Democracy That Works—on December 4 asserting that China was the world’s largest democracy with 900 million voters. For good measure, it claims to have contributed a “New Model of Democracy … to the international political spectrum” which has fuelled “the development of the country and driven the revitalization of the nation”. As if that was not enough, the paper admonishes the world for “excessive democracy, democracy implemented in a haste, democratic deficit and fading democracy”.
Tokenism at Best
Now that the “fog” has been so helpfully cleared by Beijing, let us examine the purpose of the Summit. It is “intended to rally the world’s democracies against the authoritarian models of Russia and China,” opines The New York Times. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida underlined that, “It is necessary for like-minded countries to be united in tackling actions that would undermine fundamental values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law.”
In his inaugural remarks, President Biden expressed concern at the “sustained and alarming challenges to democracy, universal human rights … more than half of all democracies have experienced a decline in at least one aspect of their democracy over the last 10 years, including the United States … And as a global community for democracy, we have to stand up for the values that unite us.” He pitched the US as a “champion for democracy” while recognizing that many champions were needed all around the world.
And no doubt India is one such champion although we do not believe in propagating our model of governance. In his brief yet pithy intervention, PM Narendra Modi observed that the democratic spirit was integral to India’s civilization ethos and that nations were following “different paths of democratic development”. Thus, it is necessary to constantly improve democratic systems and jointly shape global norms for emerging technologies like social media and crypto currencies, so that they empower democracy, not undermine it.
In his very first foreign policy speech at the US State Department on February 4, President Biden had committed to host a “Summit of Democracy … to rally the nations of the world to defend democracy globally and to push back the authoritarianism’s advance” while promising to be “a much more credible partner”.
The Biden administration has been speaking about cooperating and competing with China, but also confronting it. The establishment has been quite vocal about condemning human rights abuses, particularly in Xinjiang. Last week, it was announced that no American official would attend the Chinese Winter Olympics although the athletes would participate. A few countries have followed suit. This is a small step in the right direction.
On December 9, Biden launched the “Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal” and other initiatives to bolster democratic resilience and human rights globally. He seeks to promote transparent and accountable governance, media freedom and independence, fight international corruption, defend fair elections, to cite a few examples. For this purpose, he wants to earmark a ‘princely sum’ of $424 million with the approval of Congress.
Any initiative that promotes democracy and rule of law globally is welcome but the Summit for Democracy is tokenism at best. Democratic ethos cannot be generated through a virtual conference that too on the cheap. To contextualize, China has committed $100 billion under the Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia alone, which includes some $60 billion to Pakistan and about $30 billion to Bangladesh.
In reality, the feel-good Summit is more about politics, reclaiming leadership and influence and less about democracy. Building a coalition of like-minded countries is a delicate, serious and laborious task that requires consistency and a long-term commitment. Even the QUAD comprising just four countries is struggling to finalize its agenda. President Biden wants to have a similar event next year, yet one year is like an eternity in politics. With the Republicans smelling blood and midterm congressional elections scheduled next year, there is little certainty that a follow-up Summit would even materialize.
The author is Former Envoy to South Korea and Canada and Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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