Thirty-plus years of high-level scholarly research has shown that democracy enhances security and security likewise contributes to democracy. The research shows that democracies are vulnerable to a range of insidious challenges from hostile forces but they have inherent resources to resist these challenges. 

The thing is, those resources need to be mobilised to defend and deepen democracy. Otherwise we will sit and watch and moan as drip by drip, freedom by freedom, biased court case and bad law by biased court case and bad law, our democratic rights leak away.

If democracy ends, that’s how it will be – not with a bang but a whimper.

The research is reviewed in a fantastic pair of reports – one on the global evidence, one on the evidence in Europe. They are written by Katharina Merkel and released yesterday by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. 

Some key points from the 2 page quick version:

Democracy – security – peace

In the face of multiple pressures, some people are losing faith in democracy. The problem of democracy today is above all a problem of trust and confidence.

Democracy offers much better prospects for peace than other systems of government do. And peace is the basis for every other possible good – prosperity, equity, lives of dignity – and is mutually reinforcing with democracy itself. 

Peace, in other words, is a security asset and the strategic foundation for sustainable peace.

Harmonious international relations

When the national and/or international context is insecure and prone to conflict, democracy weakens as emergency measures and special laws come, extending the government’s power.

So we need harmonious international relations to help protect democracy.

And since international relations are conducted in ways that reflect and respond to the political and institutional contexts in which national leaders operate, spreading and strengthening democracy makes harmonious relations more likely.

Trust in a fair society

Respect for human rights, fairness in society and gender equality contribute to peaceful relations within countries, thus to democracy, and thus to regional and global peace. 

The free flow of information and opinion is a key part of democracy. They build trust in the system. So democracies generally experience greater informed compliance if special measures are needed, such as during a pandemic or in the event of natural disaster, and can respond with greater agility, flexibility and impact than illiberal systems can.

Responding to disinformation

But that same free flow of information and ideas makes democracies more vulnerable to organised disinformation than illiberal systems. 

On the other hand, that openness means citizens have more experience of handling diverse information and opinion, so democracies are also resilient to manipulative disinformation in a way illiberal systems cannot match.

In responding to disinformation campaigns, democracies should retain their openness and their diverse information and opinion environments.

The dangers of polarisation

Polarising political narratives often justify themselves in the name of security but they actually undermine it. Polarisation both feeds and is fed by an environment of threat. It reduces freedoms and weakens democracy in the name of security, intensifies divisions between groups, weakens social cohesion and reduces the sense that we all have a stake in the institutions of governance.

In short, polarisation threatens peace and weakens democracy.

Military spending

Worldwide, military spending is higher than it has ever been and has risen for 11 straight years.

There is no evidence that major increases in military spending directly undermine democratic stability if civilian control of the military remains firm. But if spending on health, social programmes and infrastructure gets cut while military spending goes up, society becomes less fair. That weakens trust and democracy, and undermines peace.

But if government spending on the military increases while spending on health and social programmes declines, the perception of unfairness in society may increase, reducing trust in the institutions of governance and undermining democracy and, thereby, security.

Accordingly, while increases in military spending are not in themselves, problematic, the question of who pays is crucial.

Lessons

• Stop treating these issues in siloes.
• Understand that democracy is a foundation stone for peace and a security asset.
• Resist the urge to restrict rights and freedoms in the name of security.
• Mobilise resources to deepen and strengthen democracy.