Eine mit Wahlwerbung zugepflasterte Straße in Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Das Land wählt am Donnerstag ein neues Parlament – nur eine von über 60 Wahlen weltweit in diesem Jahr.

Super election year 2024: "There will be no return to the democratic world order"

The renowned British political scientist talks about the danger of manipulation in the super election year of 2024, the difference between Trump and Putin, an impending shift to the right in Europe and what politics has to do with a tube of toothpaste.

© Fran Monks

About the person: Ben Ansell

The political scientist Ben Ansell, 47, is a professor at the University of Oxford. In 2023, the British broadcaster BBC appointed Ansell Speaker of the renowned public lecture series “The Reith Lectures”. Ansell’s book, Why Politics So Often Fails, addresses the constant conflict between democratic ideals and individual interests that prevent us from making the compromises so important to the functioning of democratic societies. The German edition will be published on April 24th.

Professor Ansell, more than 60 countries are voting this year, including many democracies. Will the world have a few less of them at the end of the year?

When half of humanity goes to the polls this year, only around two billion of them will have their voices really matter, because they will vote in free and fair elections. I don’t think we will lose these democracies. But one thing is clear: at least since the Arab Spring, we have been in a democratic lull. There will be no return to the democratic world order like at the end of the Cold War.

Bryce

I am Bryce, a writer for Southshore Journal, and I bring my passion for general news to our dynamic team. My commitment to editorial quality and the responsibility of informing guide my daily efforts. Working in collaboration with our talented journalists and editors, I strive to provide accurate and current information for our attentive audience.