• Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This is sadly so obvious to see, that you don’t need a report to know that.

    Romania and Slovakia — are becoming the center of democratic growth in Europe

    The report is even already way off regarding Slovakia, who just elected an authoritarian with sympathies towards Russia.
    Romania is a bit shaky too, they have very little trust in the democratic government, and could probably easily be swayed by a populist who says what they want to hear.

    It doesn’t mention USA, Brazil, Argentina that are all becoming more shaky too, instead of stabilizing.
    It also doesn’t mention China, that also became more authoritarian, with Xi grabbing even more power much like Putin.

    Being young in the 70’s, I never in my worst nightmares imagined things would ever become this bad.
    When the Berlin Wall was broken, I never imagined it could become this bad. It’s kind of worse than before the wall was broken, because USA alone is such a huge influence, and Republican have gone completely nuts for Authoritarianism for some reason???

    • Uranium3006@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Republican have gone completely nuts for Authoritarianism for some reason???

      two reasons:

      1. in 2010 they got to gerrymander the fuck out of districts and thus got a whole bunch of safe seats where even total wackos can win primaries and then go on to safely win the general

      2. the republican’s whole ideology and support base is crumbling away and it’s basically unstoppable at this point. old racists who fondly remember jim crow are all retired and young people are leaving christianaity at a consistent rate of around 1%/year. their economic policies are totally out of whack with what the bottom 90% need or want and no one believes tax cuts on the rich will benefit anyone but the rich. their only hope is overthrowing the government and installing a dictator and everyone knows it

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Republican have gone completely nuts for Authoritarianism for some reason???

      Conservatives have always been authoritarian. The difference between now and before is that decades ago, the political parties were aligned differently with some Southern conservatives being Democrats and some Northern progressives being Republicans, so the overall party platforms were more moderate. Also, conservatives back then couldn’t admit to their desires to go full-on “papers, please” because the Soviet Union existed as a geopolitical enemy that they needed to maintain ideological distance from. (In contrast, they’re happy to be buddy-buddy with fascist Russia, since it’s right-wing authoritarian instead of left-wing authoritarian.)

      TL;DR: Because coalitions and geopolitics have realigned, conservatives can express the true agenda they’ve always had in a way they couldn’t before.

    • KnowledgeableNip@leminal.space
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      1 year ago

      Republican have gone completely nuts for Authoritarianism for some reason

      I feel like this is a power grab. With everyone online and interconnected, it’s a lot easier to see where the real problems are. Our collective blame shifts more and more to the top and it’s becoming a lot harder to defend the actions of the rich.

      I feel like that’s a source for all of this, not just the USA. They know the party is over, but they’ll fight like hell to keep it going.

    • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m xennial and lucky enough to remember a few yrs before the wall and have context to appreciate that most of my life has been during the most peaceful period (a blip) of human history. I think a lot of younger people are taken a back by this all bc they never thought about it and in some states aren’t even being taught about it. Do most of your peers share your sentiment at the end of your comments?

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Do most of your peers share your sentiment at the end of your comments?

        Yes most do, although I think most of them don’t acknowledge how bad it really is.

      • Jojo@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Fun reminder that the USA has been at war for basically all of your life.

    • emmeram@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      The article is about direction, not position.

      The report is even already way off regarding Slovakia, who just elected an authoritarian with sympathies towards Russia. Romania is a bit shaky too, they have very little trust in the democratic government, and could probably easily be swayed by a populist who says what they want to hear.

      The article uses the report to show that Slovakia and Romania have improved relative to their prior measurement. It is silent on their positions relative to other democracies.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Slovakia and Romania have improved relative to their prior measurement.

        Slovakia improved how? From potentially electing a Russia friendly authoritarian to actually having elected one is progress?

    • trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      As for Slovakia, not all hope is lost.

      The party that was elected has been ruling for ages, so they’re very entrenched especially for older voters.

      There is a new-ish party (PS) that gained a lot of momentum in this election, and I have even better hopes for them in the next election.

  • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    What’s your definition of democracy baby?

    What do you consider kleptocracy ?

    Don’t you know I vote until it hurts me baby

    Don’t you think it’s time you had Marx with me?

  • Smacks@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    US is about to fall into a semi-fascist state next year, so it’s gonna get way worse

    • rammer@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      If you are referring to Trump, it’s far from a done deal.

      Though some would say that the US has been a fascist state for a while.

      • samus12345@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Semi-fascist, unarguably, because one of the two political parties is fascist and currently controls the House and Supreme Court.

        • rammer@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Some would say that the other party is not much better. Given their close ties to finance, industry and military. And the revolving doors associated with those.

  • febra@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Funny that Politico are the ones reporting on this… given the fact that they’re owend by Axel Springer

    • hh93@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      At least it’s not Murdoch - but that’s a very low bar

  • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    That’s not about just O, T and E etc really.

    It’s about the average Westerner just loving to blabber about realpolitik and subjective interests on the subject of enabling richer and stronger cannibals against poorer and weaker humans.

    And also about democratic countries having no immunity against foreign states buying their politicians and officials and the general population not really caring.

    Jailing for life a few people who’ve been paid by Qatar, Azerbaijan, Russia, Israel etc would do wonders as an example to the rest.

    Bombing their infrastructures when they start wars would also be nice. Most don’t have WMD. Not for the realpolitikers, of course, that would have negative strategic and economical effect, but if your goal is preserving democracy and civilization, then there are plenty of places to be bombed right now without dancing all the quadrilles.

    • dragnet@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      9/11, yes, but what human rights did we lose from covid? Having to wear a mask for a while? Or being heavily encouraged to get a vaccine? …

      • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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        1 year ago

        All of them. Literally all of them, as you lost many thanks to the reactionary assholes after 9/11 who demanded the near-complete dismantling of the 4th amendment to make themselves feel safe from their Muslim neighbors.

        Shit rolls downhill.

          • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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            1 year ago

            Read what I’m saying and then talk. Or just parrot pro-lockdown talking points you let yourself get brainwashed with so I know to ignore you. Your choice

            • samus12345@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Still haven’t answered their question. Disregard 9/11. What rights has COVID taken away? “All of them” is not an acceptable answer, be specific.

              • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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                1 year ago

                They didn’t ask a question, they said “Re-read what the comment you replied to is asking.” When they’re the one who lacks reading comprehension.

                But you sure prove my point that you destroyed the United States of America because you chose fear over hope and courage in the face of tragedy and don’t give a damn about the consequences of your actions or the lives you destroyed. You prove it real well.

                • mriormro@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  You still haven’t answered my question. What rights did you explicitly lose because of covid?

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    “In Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Slovakia, Israel, and the United States, just to name the most familiar examples, the erosion of democratic norms has been engineered by leaders claiming to speak in the name of, and with the authority of, the people,” the new report warned.

    IDEA’s report bases its analysis on 173 countries and takes into account 17 metrics ranging from civil liberties to judicial independence to credible elections to the rule of law, using the most recent figures from 2022.

    EU countries Hungary and Poland are still the “most notable examples illustrating the bloc’s limited ability to exert more direct influence over the (non-)democratic trajectory of its member states,” the report said.

    Poland — which is set for a change of political direction after election results earlier this month that saw the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party defeated — might now be on a more positive trajectory.

    In contrast to Hungary and Poland’s recent performance, other Central and Eastern European countries — such as Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia — are becoming the center of democratic growth in Europe due to notable five-year improvements, the report said.

    According to the report: “Ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been implicated in schemes to shut down critical media and purchase positive coverage by using public funds through the Ministry of Finance.”


    The original article contains 692 words, the summary contains 222 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!