US capitol and soldiers

US institutions withstood the attacks to its Capitol Building on January 6, but the country’s role as global promoter of democracy is now crumbling. 

Eric Farnsworth

Eric Farnsworth

By now, the shocking, shameful videos of the January 6 sacking of the US Capitol have cemented the impression worldwide that US democracy is at an inflection point. 

Leaders from China, Iran, Russia, Venezuela and elsewhere are gloating publicly after seeing mobs incited by then president Donald Trump descend on the US senate, while taking advantage of a distracted Washington to advance their own anti-democratic efforts. Others, from Canada and western Europe, have expressed sorrow and concern for the American people. After all, if the US, the beacon of global democracy, can suffer such ruinous behaviour, which nation is immune?

It’s a sobering thought, particularly for nations where democratic practice is not nearly as deeply ingrained.

The good news, to the extent there is any, is that the Republic has held. With the second impeachment of Donald Trump and the inauguration of the next president, Joe Biden, the institutions of government will carry forward. But we cannot pretend that life will return to normal, whatever that even means anymore.

Deeply ingrained issues

Pre-existing fault lines have deepened in US society, amplified, outrageously, by the president and his numerous enablers, and hardened by today’s media environment. Not since the sustained national turmoil of the 1960s or even, perhaps, the US civil war in the 1860s, has the country been as divided as it is now, with no end in sight. Thus the fork in the road for US democracy: to acknowledge our challenges and work hard, together, to address them; or to continue to seek easy solutions to wickedly difficult programmes and open ourselves again to demagogic exploitation from both right and left.

If every election must now devolve into existential debate or mortal political combat, the areas for compromise and centrist solutions cease to exist. And without compromise and an appreciation for alternative views, democracy itself goes on trial.      

But the significant challenges faced by the US have global implications, too. As we’ve seen in Belarus, Hong Kong, Venezuela and elsewhere, a distracted US is unable to rally international opinion effectively to promote democracy globally — a critical guardrail against authoritarianism.

The US’s reputation in the eyes of emerging markets has been tarnished

Perhaps even more importantly, a US in chaos, which has also proven inefficient in addressing the Covid crisis, opens itself to uncomfortable comparisons with competing systems of governance. Beijing continues to stress this point to developed and developing markets alike: if China can deliver political stability, economic growth and public health more effectively than the US, there is little reason not to buy into its economic model and longer term vision of global governance — so long as you don’t hail from Taiwan, Tibet or Xinjiang.

It may be a two-dimensional caricature, but the argument will prove increasingly seductive to the extent the US continues to be in a self-absorbed wrestling match with its own civic values and democratic practices. And other countries must also be on their guard to be sure that their own democratic practices are maintained.

Reputational damage

Meanwhile, the US’s reputation in the eyes of emerging markets has been tarnished. Traditionally, it has promoted democratic practices around the world, from grassroots to government, offering financial and technical support, among other things. Always in the background was that idea that the US had the unique moral authority to promote such behaviours, regardless of whether our own actions were always perfectly appropriate. Washington’s democracy agenda enjoyed a certain cachet simply by virtue of the fact that it was seen to be a better system than others — or, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, the worst form of government except for all others which have been tried. We talked the talk, but also, mostly, walked the walk.

With the early January actions of the president and his supporters, and indeed since the groundwork laid before the 2016 elections, observers can rightfully wonder whether this is indeed the system they should aspire to. And even if it is, isn’t the US’s insistence on democratic governance and practice now exposed, as China has long claimed, as simply a cynical effort to promote US hegemony through ideology?  

The answer is no, but there is a much bigger issue at stake here than just a civil disturbance in Washington. The moment may pass, and the US may regain its political footing, but significant and lasting damage to the cause of global democracy promotion has already been done. It is not simply an American tragedy and it will not recede quickly.

Eric Farnsworth is vice-president of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society and heads the organisation’s Washington DC office.

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