{"id":432456,"date":"2021-12-14T13:03:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T13:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=95b72eea441318e682d6247ab1fbee77"},"modified":"2021-12-14T13:03:46","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T13:03:46","slug":"bidens-democracy-summit-prioritized-us-hegemony-over-democratic-ideals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/12\/14\/bidens-democracy-summit-prioritized-us-hegemony-over-democratic-ideals\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s \u201cDemocracy Summit\u201d Prioritized US Hegemony Over Democratic Ideals"},"content":{"rendered":"\"President<\/a>

For stark evidence that we live in a world where political hypocrisy reigns supreme, one need look no further than Biden\u2019s recent Democracy Summit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The United States — which was rated for the fifth consecutive year as a \u201cflawed democracy<\/a>\u201d by a \u201cleader in business intelligence” — sought to project itself at last week\u2019s summit as a leader in the fight to preserve global democracy, despite its long and dark history of overthrowing democratically elected governments and installing military dictatorships, and in spite of its ongoing support for any regime, however autocratic, that supports the interests and the objectives of the U.S. empire.<\/p>\n

As if this wasn\u2019t hypocritical or farcical enough, many of the countries invited to take part in the summit are governed by leaders with little concern for democratic norms, such as India\u2019s Narendra Modi, Brazil\u2019s Jair Bolsonaro and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. These are authoritarian-led nations, but they enjoy robust economic and political relations with the United States.<\/p>\n

China and Russia were not invited. Neither was Turkey because of Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s extensive military deals with Russia.<\/p>\n

The summit brought together leaders from government and the private sector, all of whom seem to have accepted the fact that democracy is under strain in today\u2019s world, but there was no acknowledgement of the factors responsible for the weakening of democratic governance and the resurgence of authoritarianism. What one heard were pledges to strengthen democratic accountability, expand economic opportunities and protect human rights. In other words, the same blah, blah, blah, delivered by leaders at COP26. <\/p>\n

In sum, the Summit for Democracy was not about defending democracy; rather, it was a geopolitical gambit to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives. As such, the question as to why democracy is undergoing an alarming decline across the world<\/a> was simply left hanging in the air.<\/p>\n

What really accounts for the spread of authoritarianism over the last few decades? And how does it differ from the forms of political authoritarianism that were prevalent during the Cold War era? <\/p>\n