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The strongest glue holding liberal democracies together, Luce argues, is economic growth, and when that growth stalls or falls, things tend to take a dark turn. With growing competition for jobs and resources, losers (those he calls the left-behinds) seek scapegoats for their woes, and consensus becomes harder to reach as politics devolves into more and more of a zero-sum game.

Many of the tools of modern life are increasingly priced beyond most peoples reach, Luce writes. One study shows it now takes the median worker more than twice as many hours a month to pay rent in one of Americas big cities as it did in 1950; and the costs of health care and a college degree have increased even more. There is rising income inequality in the West; America, which had traditionally shown the highest class mobility of any Western country, now has the lowest.

As nostalgia for a dimly recalled past replaces hope, the American dream of self-betterment and a brighter future for ones children recedes. Among the symptoms of this dynamic: a growing opioid epidemic and decline in life expectancy, increasing intolerance for other peoples points of view, and brewing contempt for an out-of-touch governing elite (represented in 2016 by Hillary Clinton, of whom Luce writes: her tone-deafness towards the middle class was almost serene).

Trumps economic agenda (as opposed to his campaign rhetoric), Luce predicts, will deepen the economic conditions that gave rise to his candidacy, while the scorn he pours on democratic traditions at home endangers the promotion of liberal democracy abroad. Americas efforts to export its ideals had already suffered two serious setbacks in the 21st century: George W. Bushs decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and the calamities that followed; and the financial crisis of 2008, which, Luce writes, was not a global recession but an Atlantic one that raised serious concerns about the Western financial model. (In 2009, Chinas economy grew by almost 10 percent, and Indias by almost 8 percent.)

What fund of good will the United States retained, Luce suggests, Trump has been rapidly squandering, with his dismissive treatment of NATO and longtime allies, and his overtures toward autocratic leaders like Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Within days of his inauguration, Luce writes, Trump had killed the remaining spirit of enlightened self-interest that defined much of post-World War II America. Given this situation, Luce adds, the stability of the planet and the presumption of restraint will have to rest in the hands of Xi Jinping and other powerful leaders, though he predicts that chaos, not China, is likelier to take Americas place.

Luces conclusions are pessimistic but not entirely devoid of hope. The Wests crisis is real, structural and likely to persist, he writes. Nothing is inevitable. Some of what ails the West is within our power to fix. Doing so means rejecting complacency about democracy and our systems resilience, and understanding exactly how we got here.

Luces book is one good place to start.

Follow Michiko Kakutani on Twitter: @michikokakutani

The Retreat of Western Liberalism By Edward Luce 234 pages. Atlantic Monthly Press. $24.

A version of this review appears in print on June 20, 2017, on Page C4 of the New York edition with the headline: Inside Job: The Harm the West Is Inflicting on Itself.

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In 'The Retreat of Western Liberalism,' How Democracy Is Defeating Itself - New York Times

Turkey has received almost 1 billion from the EU to support rule of law, civil society, fundamental rights, democracy and governance.

A European Commission spokesperson told EUobserver earlier this month some 979.6 million was paid out between 2007 and April this year with more likely to come given Turkey's continued candidacy for EU membership.

The commission also said it was closely reviewing ongoing and future financial assistance for Turkey "to make sure it is fully in line with our interests and values."

But Turkey's backsliding into an autocracy led by its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has, since last July, led to over 50,000 arrests, some 100,000 detentions, 138,000 job sackings, and close to 2,100 schools being shut down.

Of those, 234 journalists have been arrested, over 4,400 judges and prosecutors dismissed, and around 8,270 academics fired.

Earlier this month, Taner Kilic, the chair of Amnesty International Turkey, had also been detained by the police along with 22 other lawyers. He was then charged of belonging to a terrorist organisation.

The country is also undergoing a radical shift from a parliamentary republic to one that concentrates power into the hands of Erdogan.

The issue has riled the European parliament, which has pushed for the end of accession talks.

But the EU and member states are keen to keep an open door to Turkey following a multi-billion euro refugee deal that prevents people from seeking asylum in Europe.

Belgian leader of the liberal political group, Guy Verhofstadt, told MEPs in Strasbourg last week that Erdogan's hunger for power is now without limits.

"He can do what he wants. We don't take any action towards Turkey, not even suspending accession talks," he said.

The EU commission says the plan is to keep pouring money into in Turkey despite "the prevailing circumstances". It also noted the legally binding obligations that underpin the funds.

The amounts are not insignificant. Turkey receives more money from the EU's so-called Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) than any other country.

From 2007 to 2013, it was allocated roughly 4.8 billion, which is more than 40 percent of all IPA allocations.

Of that, 2.68 billion was committed and 2.19 billion paid out. A further 1.65 billion has been allocated since 2014 but not yet paid out.

Commitments are legal promises to spend money on certain projects. Payments refer to the money that the EU actually expects to pay out in relation to the contract.

On Tuesday (20 June), the EU parliament's foreign affairs committee once again demanded the end to Turkey membership talks.

German centre-right MEP Renate Sommer, who leads the group's file on Turkey, noted that an end to accession talks would also stop pre-accession funding.

"We demand the redirection of the IPA funds to use them exclusively to support civil society and improve the situation of the refugees in Turkey," she said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the EU's financial watchdog, the European Court of Auditors, said it would start to probe how the money was spent.

The auditors announced they would focus on areas like the rule of law, fundamental rights, democracy, governance, and education.

Those results are expected sometime early next year.

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Turkey received 1bn in EU money to develop democracy - EUobserver

The San Luis Obispo Tribune

Democracy? Think again. The San Luis Obispo Tribune In a healthy representative democracy, politicians who represent only 1 percent of the population should represent 1 percent of Congress in Washington. This is not the case today (even in state politics, with very few exceptions). The health of a ...

Continued here:
Democracy? Think again. - The San Luis Obispo Tribune

The horrific, apparently politically motivated shooting in Alexandria, Va., and the news that President Trump is the subject of a criminal investigation, provide a grim reminder of the social, economic and legal conditions integral to the preservation of American democracy.

The core values of our system forbid resort to violence against those who seek or serve in public office. They require economic conditions that would diminish the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. And they demand from governmental officials rigorous adherence to constitutional principles and legal norms, the essence of the rule of law.

Particular social conditions, none more important than the absence of intimidation and violence, are what sustains our democracy. Politically inspired violence short-circuits participation in the governmental process. It discourages citizens, who fear for their safety, from seeking office. It chills and, indeed, depending on its frequency and severity, may still the voices of all but those intrepid few who would risk danger to engage in robust discussion and debate, the very engine of democracy.

Political violence, whether a function of sociopathic tendencies, unleashed and fired by the allure of radical ideology, or a reflection of desperation, grounded in frustration, resentment, isolation and a sense of inefficacy, is anathema to our fundamental values and democratic principles. Abstinence from political violence on those, or any other grounds, certainly can be encouraged by a government dedicated, as the Preamble of the Constitution provides, to the promotion of the general welfare, liberty and justice for all Americans, and by the majestic words of the 14th Amendment, which impose upon states the duty to ensure the equal protection of the laws.

The framers of the Constitution constructed a system of government built on the foundations of governmental transparency and accountability, pillars that they believed would obviate the need for political opponents to resort to violence to change programs, policies and laws. Public trust in governmental institutions, however, will be eroded by the perception of deception, corruption and illegality.

Desperate men may resort to desperate measures, if they think their hopes, dreams and very futures have been robbed by unfair economic policies and unjust laws. Aristotle, the wisest of the ancient Greek philosophers, observed that the leading source of instability and violence in any society is the unequal distribution of property, which results in a chasm between the haves and the have-nots. James Madison, and many of our nations founders, shared this conclusion.

Accordingly, it has long been held among champions of democracy that government must adopt economic and tax policies that include not merely incentives but genuine opportunities for people to improve the quality of their lives. Preclusion of opportunities chains on the future of citizens to grow and prosper historically has resulted in political violence. Everyone, rich and poor alike, has an interest in a governmental system that affords economic opportunities and treats citizens with dignity.

Preservation of the rule of law is critical to the future of our republic. Deep suspicion that governmental officials ignore constitutional provisions and shrug off their responsibilities and duties, which they swore an oath to honor and perform, undermines popular confidence in the integrity of our system. Governmental violation of the Constitution and laws, Justice Louis Brandeis observed, will encourage lawlessness among the citizenry because government teaches the whole people by example. Brandeis added: If government becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.

The most effective means of ensuring public confidence in our governmental institution is through accountability and, when necessary, investigation. That is why all Americans, liberals and conservatives alike, should embrace Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into whether President Trump has impeded the investigation into whether his campaign team acted in concert with Russian officials to undermine the U.S. presidential election.

Presidential obstruction of justice is a heinous crime. It vitiates the integrity of an investigation, deprives the citizenry of knowing facts and truths, and destroys accountability. If a thorough investigation concludes that there was no coordination or collusion with the Russians, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief and find comfort in knowing that every stone has been turned in an effort to ascertain facts.

But if Muellers investigation reveals that President Trump has engaged in obstruction of justice, then our commitment to constitutional democracy, civil liberty and the rule of law compels us to support resolution of the issues, wherever that may lead. The preservation of our constitutional system comes with a price. That price is vigilance.

David Gray Adler is president of the Alturas Institute, which advances the Constitution, civic education and gender equality.

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Democracy demands vigilance - San Francisco Chronicle

Diplomats from the Western Hemisphere began meeting in Mexico on Monday, attempting to pressure Venezuela to restore democracy and ease the political chaos and repression tearing apart the oil-rich country whose citizens are on starvation diets.

Venezuelas descent into authoritarian rule and violence is the main focus of a three-day meeting of the Organization of American States, the leading defender of democracy and human rights in the Western Hemisphere. But Venezuela is testing the OAS democratic founding principles, after almost three months of anti-government protests that have left more than 70 people dead and led to thousands being imprisoned.

[Venezuela is sliding into anarchy]

So far, the socialist government of President Nicols Maduro has resisted every entreaty by the OAS to adhere to the countrys constitution. Venezuela in response decided to withdraw from the OAS, a procedure that takes two years. The OAS meeting in Cancun is a last-ditch attempt to get Maduro to reverse course before an assembly in chosen in late July to draft a new version of the constitution.

The governments goal now is clear to remove the remaining authorities of the freely elected national assembly and replace it with a puppet, said Michael Fitzpatrick, the assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere.

[Five ways in which this wave of demonstrations in Venezuela is different]

However, it is not clear whether the OAS has the votes to pass even a relatively toothless resolution of condemnation that has no mention of sanctions or other repercussions. The United States, Mexico and Canada, plus Peru and Costa Rica, have proposed a resolution demanding the release of political prisoners and talks leading to free elections overseen by international observers. A group of 14 Caribbean countries many of which have received oil subsidies from Venezuela want an even milder version, asking simply for dialogue and help in mediation.

The problem is that the resolutions are watered down, said Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America expert at Columbia University. Theyre more admonitions, or exhortations, than actual concrete resolutions with teeth. Theyre just more strongly worded memos than the ones in the past. Nothings going to happen without some threat of force not military but sanctions.

David Smilde, a Tulane University professor who blogs on Venezuela for the Washington Office on Latin America, said that nothing the OAS is likely to suggest will be palatable to the Maduro government. But he said a strongly worded resolution on Venezuelas retreat from democracy could have symbolic impact and embolden Maduros domestic opponents.

The Trump administrations recent decision to roll back engagement with Cuba, an Obama era policy that was popular in Latin America, makes it more difficult for the United States to take a leadership role on Venezuela. Maduro has tried to paint the OAS as a tool of U.S. imperialism.

Smilde said it helps that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson decided against attending, opting to stay in Washington and instead hold talks on the crisis involving Qatar. The United States will be represented by newly confirmed Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan.

Tillerson would have come with a much stronger, Trump-like line, a more aggressive tone, that would have impeded any agreement, Smilde said. The lower the U.S. profile is, the better the solution is going to be.

See more here:
Western Hemisphere group tries to press Venezuela to restore democracy - Washington Post