A new study conducted by the United Nations University International Institute for Democracy has found that people are prone to justifying the undermining of democracy, if it is done by other people first.
The study, which was published in the journal Science Advances, analysed the responses of 5,602 people in 16 countries between 2015 and 2018. The participants were asked to consider scenarios where a democratic country was on the brink of a democratic crisis, such as a government attempting to undermine the power of its citizens or a leader attempting to stay in office illegally.
The results of the study showed that people tended to consider democracy-undermining activities to be more acceptable if they believed that other people had already engaged in such activities. This suggests that when people are presented with a scenario where democracy is under threat, they are more likely to justify the undermining of democracy if they have witnessed others doing it first.
Lead researcher Dr. Kayla Peinert commented on the findings of the report, saying: “It’s a sad fact that people are able to justify democratic erosion, even though they likely recognize it is wrong. Our experiments suggest that the more ‘normalized’ democratic erosion becomes, the easier it is for people to justify engaging in it.”
This study highlights the importance of combatting the normalization of activities which undermine democracy. Governments, international organizations and civil society must work together to ensure that democratic processes are respected and upheld. The consequences of allowing democratic erosion to become normalized can be dire, with democracy potentially being undermined at a domestic or international level. It is vital that we remain vigilant and take action to ensure that democracy is not undermined in any way.
The report serves as an important reminder of the fragility of democracy, and of the importance of preserving and protecting it at both domestic and international levels. In order to protect democracy, it is necessary that we resist attempts to normalize activities which can have damaging effects on democratic processes.
