The Death of Democracy: Why Millennials are losing faith in a system of government that promotes plurality
A study came out recently showing more and more young Black people have started questioning the community’s traditional support for the Democratic Party, thanks to the role played by the likes of Kanye West, Candace Owens and CJ Pearson. Now, another study has found that a majority of young people are losing faith in the system of democracy itself -- a phenomenon which, according to observers, is being witnessed for the first time in living memory.
The University of Cambridge study, which got published on Monday, October 19, said while nearly two-thirds of those under 35 believed in democracy, it has come down to just 48 percent in the current times. The survey covered five million young people across 160 nations between a time range from the early 1970s till now. Cambridge researchers collaborated with the HUMAN Surveys Project to combine data after the respondents were asked about their degree of satisfaction with the democratic system in their respective countries.
The report is the latest from the Centre for the Future of Democracy at the university's Bennett Institute for Public Policy. In January this year, the center's inaugural report said the global dissatisfaction with democracy remained at a 25-year high. Dr Roberto Foa of the university, who is also the study’s lead author, said: “This is the first generation in living memory to have a global majority who are dissatisfied with the way democracy works while in their twenties and thirties.”
Economic challenges a major reason
“Higher debt burdens, lower odds of owning a home, greater challenges in starting a family, and reliance upon inherited wealth to succeed are all contributors to youth discontent.”
“By their mid-thirties, 55% of global millennials say they are dissatisfied with democracy, whereas under half of Generation X felt the same way at that age. The majority of baby boomers - now in their sixties and seventies - continue to report satisfaction with democracy, as did the interwar generation.”
He also added that the “democratic disconnect” is a result of democratic systems failing to deliver results for several young people in recent decades -- from jobs and life chances to addressing inequality and climate change.
The world has seen more chaotic scenes in the last decade -- economically and politically. While there was an economic recession in the late 2000s, the Brexit referendum of 2016 saw a political instability and currently, the planet is witnessing the coronavirus pandemic that has left serious social, economic and political consequences.
When seen generation-wise, the experience that people faced in the past decade contradicts with that of those who turned 30 in the 1990s or early 2000s. That was the time when communism collapsed and democracy triumphed and economic prosperity followed. Sixty-two percent of the younger generation had fair trust in democracy then, 14 points more than what it is now, Daily Mail reported.
Millennials' satisfaction with democracy plummeted
The study said globally, as the first millennials (birth years between 1981 and 1996) started their universities at the turn of the century, the satisfaction rate was higher than what was in their parent’s generation. However, it plummeted after the 2008 financial crisis. According to Foa, almost two-thirds (63 percent) of millennials in the US were satisfied with the country's democracy in their early 20s but as they reached their late 30s, it fell down to 50 percent. In the case of baby boomers (post-WWII generation), three-quarters (74 percent) of them in the US were satisfied with the democratic system by the time they reached their mid-30s and more than 68 percent remained so throughout their lives.
It was also pointed out that in countries where the wealth distribution is relatively flat, like in Iceland and Austria, the generation gaps in attitudes to democracy are minor but in those nations where wealth inequality is persistent, like in the US, the gap is big and still growing. The study also concluded that in emerging democracies in Africa, southern Europe, and Latin America, there is a “transition fatigue.” It marks a drop in satisfaction rate after 25 years of democracy as generations, who lack the memory of past dictatorships and struggle for political freedom, come of age.
“Right across the world, we are seeing an ever-widening gap between youth and older generations on how they perceive the functioning of democracy,” Foa said.
The report also said that as the young generation loses trust in democratic functioning, it is also increasingly viewing political opponents as morally flawed. The report added that in the western democracies, 41 percent of those born in the 80s and 90s are of the opinion that one could judge a person as good or bad by knowing his/her politics. Now, only 30 percent of voters aged over 35 feel the same.