Democracy turned upside down

Winston Churchill famously said, “Democ­ racy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried.”

- ANITA PRATAP

But, over the years, democracies have absorbed many sins of autocracies, theocracies, aris­tocracies and gerontocracies. Experts say democratic backsliding today begins at the ballot box with voters electing corrupt, divisive and authoritarian lead­ ers. Their governments may then implement racist, undemocratic, uneconomic and unethical policies. Nearly two centuries ago, French historian Alexis de Tocqueville warned that, “Tyranny of the majority” endangers democracy. Today democracy seems torn by the tyranny of the majority and minority—that even fuels war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benja­min Netanyahu ignores global outrage and pleas from the US, bolstered by his two fringe, extremist, ultranationalist coalition partners—religious Zionism Party’s Beza lel Smo­ trich, the finance min is ter, and Jewish Power Party’s Itamar