What should a democratic country do about parties that use elections and other democratic means to undermine democracy itself? One widely accepted but not universally accepted answer is to ban the party before it comes to power.
But what about individual politicians?
Americans are hotly discussing this question as.Various legal challenges attempt to disqualify former. President Donald Trump from running for a second Free Telemarketing Leads term due to his involvement in the riot at the. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The same question is plaguing. Germans who want to prevent the rise of the far right. One proposal is to strip individual leaders of their political rights, but stops short of outright banning the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
These measures are severe restrictions on the political
Process and should be used only as a last resort. But when a person has a consistent record of inciting opposition to democracy—even after repeated warnings—disqualification from the democratic process is indeed justified. Otherwise, democracies put themselves Design in mortal danger. As Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels infamously gloated, “It will always be one of the best jokes of democracy that it has given its mortal enemy the means of its own destruction.”
Political scientist Karl Loewenstein, who left Germany after the Nazis came to power, recognized this fatal weakness and coined the concept of “radical democracy,” by which he meant a democracy
willing and able to defend itself through ostensibly undemocratic measures. His focus was on banning political parties, and his ideas were influential in the drafting of West Germany’s postwar democratic constitution. In the 1950s, both communist and neo-Nazi parties were banned.
Loewenstein warned that his approach was tantamount to fighting fire with fire.
Those who use radical democratic tools must be aware of the risks. A democracy that defends itself with undemocratic means is likely to end up destroying itself. Just look at Turkey, which has been too quick to ban political parties based on unclear criteria.
Critics of radical democracy insist that if the majority wants to abolish democracy, there is no way to save it; if opponents of democracy are in the minority, the fate of the system should be left to the political process. Either way, they oppose heavy-handed, quasi-technocratic official measures that could further alienate those already dissatisfied with democracy.
發佈留言