Saturday, June 25, 2022
  • 🔒Privacy Policy
  • © Copyright
The Voiceof London
  • Latest news
  • Foreign affairs
  • UK
  • USA
  • Russia
  • Health
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Contact us
  • Latest news
  • Foreign affairs
  • UK
  • USA
  • Russia
  • Health
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Contact us
No Result
View All Result
The Voiceof London
No Result
View All Result
Home Russia
Biden's belief that Putin is conspiring with China to take down democracy betrays his complete ignorance of Russia's own politics

Biden’s belief that Putin is conspiring with China to take down democracy betrays his complete ignorance of Russia’s own politics

The Voiceof London by The Voiceof London
July 23, 2021
in Russia
0

Russia and China are betting that autocracy will beat democracy. That’s according to US President Joe Biden. But apart from generating headlines, his explosive claim seems to have little to do with the reality in either country.

Not only is lumping the two states together a mistake, so too is the act of contrasting the two ideologies. The language of political philosophy is, sadly, unsuited to the task of describing political realities. We bandy about words such as “liberalism,” “socialism,” and “fascism,” as if we know what they mean. In fact, they are horribly loose categories that even the brightest political philosopher struggles to define, and confuse more often than they help.

Biden fits neatly within an American tradition that regards the United States as the natural leader of the “free” world, splitting countries neatly into two – democracies on the one hand, and everybody else on the other.

Also on rt.com
20 years after the Russo-Chinese friendship treaty, relationship between two nations at ‘unprecedented heights,’ says Moscow

Regardless of the huge variety of differences between the nations in the “other” category, they tend to be lumped in together under a single heading: autocracy. There is no room for shades of gray. Thus, in the president’s rhetoric, the world consists of two parts: democracies and autocracies.

The primary autocracy, and thus the main threat to the free world, in Biden’s view, is the People’s Republic of China. The secondary autocracy, and thus the next greatest danger, is Russia. In the American president’s eyes, the two states are in essence one and the same. Thus, back in March, he complained that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is “one of the guys, like [Russian president Vladimir] Putin, who thinks that autocracy is the wave of the future – democracy can’t function in an ever [more] complex world.”

On Wednesday this week, Biden was at it again. According to press reports, he told the CNN ‘town hall’ meeting that “China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are banking on a future not of democracy but autocracy.” The dichotomy couldn’t be clearer.

Unfortunately, clarity is not the same as accuracy, and there are some serious problems in the way that Biden paints the world.

First, China and Russia are very different. China is a one-party state that exerts tight control over society. Russia has a hybrid system that defies simple definition, but that involves very loose state control over society and combines the formalities of multiparty democracy with informal mechanisms of government that, on occasion, defy democratic norms such as the rule of law.

Also on rt.com
China cheers Russia’s move away from US dollar in favor of yuan

Putting China and Russia together in a single category, and contrasting it with democracy – which itself has so many variations as to be a dubious category of its own – is thoroughly misleading.

Second, Putin himself has never publicly expressed any hostility towards democracy. If you are in doubt, check his public statements over the past 20 years. You won’t find a bad word about democracy. It’s true that, over time, Putin’s initial praise of it has been replaced largely by silence. He has also often criticized the practices of self-defined Western “democracies”. But he has never challenged the idea of self-determination at the ballot box as a principle.

Nor has he ever proposed any alternative. Instead, he has limited himself to statements that the forms democracy takes must fit the circumstances of any given country, which, in Russia’s case, means a strong presidential system. It could be argued that Putin doesn’t understand democracy in the way that Americans do, and that, as such, he’s not a real democrat, but he has never given any indication that he is banking on democracy’s failure.

One can see this in Russian foreign policy. Putin has never shown any preference for non-democratic regimes over democratic ones. Russia has partners that are democratic and partners that are not. It has shown no inclination to bank on one or the other. All it cares is that foreign states are friendly; their political systems are irrelevant.

And then there’s the tricky issue of autocracy. Biden treats democracy and autocracy as opposites. In fact, they are entirely separate things. Simplifying rather dramatically, one might say that democracy is a matter of how power is distributed, whereas autocracy is a matter of where it is distributed.

Also on rt.com
Russia & China using ‘vaccine diplomacy’ for political gain, Berlin says, as EU delays approval of Moscow’s Sputnik V Covid-19 jab

Quite literally, in its original Greek form, autoskratos means rule by one person. The same applies to the Russian word samoderzhavie. The word autocracy therefore tells us where power should be located – in a single individual – but it tells us nothing about how the autocrat is chosen, how much power he or she should have, or what things he or she should have power over.

Conservative Russian political philosophers, while supporting autocracy, have generally taken the view that, while the autocrat should have power over all those things that are the responsibility of the state, the things that are the responsibility of the state are few in number.

Thus, the autocrat shouldn’t have authority over very much. The ideal is that expressed by the 19th-century Slavophile thinker Konstantin Aksakov: “The people do not interfere in government … the state does not interfere in the life and being of the people. … Thus, the relationship between the government and the people is a relationship of mutual non-interference.”

Autocracy, in other words, is not the same thing as authoritarianism, let alone totalitarianism. The autocrat is meant to be bound by religion, morality, custom, and, in some later versions, law. At least in theory, if not always in practice, autocracy is a form of limited government.

Since the autocrat can be elected, autocracy and democracy can even go together. There’s also absolutely nothing stopping the autocrat from being a liberal. In fact, in Russian history, some of the most ardent supporters of autocracy have been liberals, on the basis that democracy is likely to be very conservative, given the political tendencies of the masses.

Insofar as modern Russia is an autocracy, that is because it has a highly centralized system of government that gives enormous powers to the president. But this was very much a construction of Russian liberals who wanted to concentrate authority in the hands of president Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s. Modern Russian autocracy, in other words, is a liberal creation.

Of course, none of this means that autocracy can’t be illiberal, undemocratic, corrupt, or incompetent. Often it is. Nevertheless, simplistic phraseology such as ‘democracy versus autocracy’ does a very bad job of explaining the realities of political life. While Biden might think Putin and Xi are ideologically united in a global struggle against democracy, there’s very little evidence behind his thinking.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Previous Post

Pill version of Covid-19 vaccine to start clinical trial in Israel — RT World News

Next Post

UK govt won’t search Hancock’s private emails despite admitting ex-health secretary used personal account for official work — RT UK News

Related Posts

WHO gives update on mysterious child hepatitis outbreak
Russia

WHO gives update on mysterious child hepatitis outbreak

June 25, 2022
German economy minister reveals extent of gas crisis
Russia

German economy minister reveals extent of gas crisis

June 25, 2022
US banks ask Washington for Russia sanctions workaround – media
Russia

US banks ask Washington for Russia sanctions workaround – media

June 25, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Voiceof London

 

Browse UK newspapers news, research and analysis from The Voiceof London

📧 Please feel free to contact us by an email if you need more information

  • 🔒Privacy Policy
  • © Copyright
No Result
View All Result
  • Latest news
  • Foreign affairs
  • UK
  • USA
  • Russia
  • Health
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Contact us

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT