2018-03-06
40 分钟Welcome to LSEIQ, a podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science,
where we ask leading social scientists and other experts to answer an intelligent question about economics,
politics or society.
Earlier this year, the Independent Watchdog Organization Freedom House published Freedom in the World 2018,
its annual study assessing the condition of political rights and civil liberties around the globe.
The report cautioned that, in 2017, democracy had faced its most serious crisis in decades,
as its basic tenets came under attack around the world.
These include guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press and the rule of law.
71 countries were found to have suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties,
with only 35 registering gains.
This, the report marked, was the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom.
With democratically elected governments in a number of countries including Hungary,
Poland and the United States appearing to be moving further towards authoritarianism,
might next year see an even bigger drop in freedom around the world.
In this episode, Jess Winterstein asks, why is democracy declining?
On 30th of March 1961,
future American President Ronald Reagan addressed the annual meeting of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.
His warning that freedom if unprotected could be lost within a generation still stands today is a powerful reminder
that the political landscapes we all live within are not set in stone but could change at any time.
Nearly 60 years on, with democracy on the decline around the world since 2006,