- “We tend to think about things like coups — that’s the way democracies die,” he says. “They die in a firefight, or they die in a president being abducted by the military and shuffled off into exile. A real impetus of this course was on the ways that democratic backsliding can be extremely subtle and difficult to detect.”
As an example, he cites a leader enacting libel laws that inhibit free speech or electoral laws that create barriers for opposition parties. “It tends to happen at the hands of democratically elected leaders,” says Blair. “And often with a veneer — doing things that undermine democracy while arguing that they are taking those actions because they are necessary for democracy,” such as supporting strict voter ID laws by claiming they guard against fraudulent votes.
There's a saying in Russia: "Man won't cross himself while the thunder is yet to strike". When something terrible happens, it's too late to ask protection of God.
If you think of humanity as a single person, we're firmly over six years old by now. We've learned that there are rules that Mommy and Daddy don't want us to break, and we kind of abide by them. Wars are fewer and less devastating. Child mortality is, from historic perspective, negligible. We've even managed to make up our own code of conduct. When there's so much to learn about the world, in its infinite intricacy, we should be forgiven for our many mistakes. History shows that we're doing something right indeed.