"Democracy needs champions," U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday as he welcomed leaders from more than 100 countries to his two-day virtual Summit for Democracy. But who should the champions be? By organizing the event, Washington was of course declaring itself as the primary force pitting democracies against autocracies.
Beijing begs to differ. Despite being labeled "not free" by Freedom House, China had its official propaganda office release a white paper arguing that democracy isn't measured by elections but by addressing the concerns of its people. (Chinese media was decidedly less scholarly, drawing instead on Harry Potter: It said American-style democracy had decayed "just as Voldemort went down an evil path.") China even joined hands with Russia in producing an essay co-signed by their U.S. ambassadors claiming Biden's summit "will stoke up ideological confrontation and a rift in the world."
China and Russia, of course, weren't invited to the summit. That's understandable enough, but then nor were Singapore or Sri Lanka. Some invitees, such as Pakistan, refused to join—perhaps out of fear of upsetting China. Even among the attendees, there was some unease. Ram Madhav, a powerful politician close to India's ruling party, warned in one of the country's biggest newspapers that "Biden's radical colleagues want to 'fix' democracies everywhere. Some of them find a democratic deficit in India too."
But while bringing world leaders together is inherently messy, Biden is correct when he says that securing democracy is a "defining challenge of our time"—around the world but also in the United States. The question is how to address that challenge and how to do so in a way that also addresses other challenges confronting the world, such as climate change, nuclear proliferation, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
FP has published several thoughtful pieces on the summit, which I know you'll enjoy reading. You could begin with Hélène Landemore's essay, in which she points out that democracy as we know it, and as defined by the Founding Fathers of the United States, "favored the idea of people's consent to power over that of people's exercise of power." That, Landemore says, is the problem. She argues that true people power can only come about through democratic experiments such as citizens' assemblies, now common in many parts of Europe. Meanwhile FP's Stephen Walt points out that talking about democracy is all well and good, but Biden's summit is inherently confusing: Is it designed as a talk-fest, an anti-autocracy symposium, or a way to better address global problems together? And former British foreign secretary David Miliband, now CEO of the International Rescue Committee, writes that Biden's summit could have been an opportunity to prevent war crimes—a way to "prove that accountability is the strongest asset of democratic governance."
There's much more up on our website right now. I also recommend getting up to speed on the situation along the Russia-Ukraine border, where about 115,000 Russian troops are currently amassed. FP's Amy Mackinnon, Robbie Gramer, and Jack Detsch have a deeply reported account of how we got here, what Washington is currently planning, and how Kyiv is lobbying for U.S. military equipment originally earmarked for Kabul. Amy and Jack also got access to Ukraine's de-facto national security advisor, who told them that Kyiv is ready to fight until the "last drop" if Moscow invades. Perhaps most disturbingly, despite the best diplomatic efforts, Russia could also just stumble into war. As Natalia Antonova reported this week, the Russian public tends to believe a war would be easily won—a dangerous notion borne out of the long-cultivated myth that Ukrainians themselves would support such an effort.
We live in worrying times. But it's the weekend, and the holiday season, so let me try and find reason for fun and cheer. We compiled our favorite books this year, as well as our top movie, TV, and podcast recommendations. If you're able to gather with your families and friends this month, you might also want to pick out a game: Here are a few options, all inspired by foreign relations, and selected by our resident geeks James Palmer and Jennifer Williams.
What's my favorite gift this year? I set you up for that. Naturally, it's an FP subscription. Click here to give a year's worth of analysis and news about the world. Digital access is, after all, immune from supply chain disruptions.
Thanks for your support, as always.
Ravi Agrawal
FP Editor-in-Chief
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