Surname 1 Name Professor Course Date The Decline in Liberal Democracy Introduction The advanced democracies of developed nations were founded on social contracts, which entailed citizens paying taxes to the governments, which would, in return, provide jobs, crucial policies, a steady economy, and a social safety net. The citizens saw democracy as the ideal system to solve their problems and protect them from potential crises. However, over the years, citizens have lost trust in these governmental institutions, resulting in the decline of political participation, like voting and party membership. Voters are fed up with the intermediaries—the government institutions and leaders—and wish to handle things on their own, leading to a decline in liberal democracy. Modern democracy is threatened by several challenges, including economic challenges due to polarization and inequality, political challenges resulting from nationalism and extremism, which are responses to immigration, and demographic challenges because of the aging and shrinking populations. Summary The Demographic Challenge of Aging and Shrinking Populations The demographic challenge focuses on the decline in birth rates and increases in life expectancy in advanced nations, leading to a high rate of aging population with fewer working populations. With advanced technological innovations improving healthcare systems, people are living longer than before. However, with the younger generations focused on their career paths Surname 2 such that they neglect parenthood, a decline in the birth rate ensues. This means as elderly people retire from the workforce, there are not enough workers to replace them. Furthermore, as the older populations live longer, they strain the social wealth system, health care systems, and the nation’s budget in terms of pensions. These systems might not be able to sustain the large older populations since they are supported by a few working populations that are not generating enough revenue. The economic challenge of wage polarization and inequality generated by globalization and the transition to the post-industrial economy The economic challenge highlights the issue of economic inequality caused by globalization and the transition to the post-industrial economy. The challenge brings attention to the exploitation of low-income workers, a decline in the middle class, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the elites. The elite exploits the working class, making them work more for less pay. This means that the capitalist society is slowly becoming a two-class system—the elite and the working class. Additionally, the growth of technology has also impacted job security, with most workers risking losing their jobs if they fail to keep up with new skills. The political challenge of nationalism and extremism, mainly in response to large-scale migration This challenge brings attention to the emerging nationalist and extremist movements due to the decline in political participation. With the loss of trust in democratic institutions, the citizens would do anything, including settling for quick solutions to their problems. Marginalized groups would try to embrace new populist parties to challenge the state values and institutions with the belief that they would address their issues. Thus, the nationalists and extremist parties Surname 3 take advantage of such situations to gain power and manipulate the people into believing they are their saviors. The Severity of the Three Challenges The Demographic Challenge of Aging and Shrinking Populations The challenge of aging and shrinking populations threatens democracy in nations with increased life expectancies and low birth rates. Aging populations reduce labor supply and productivity while increasing strain on social welfare systems in terms of healthcare systems and pensions (Goldstone and Diamond 2). With the new kind of lifestyle, elderly people are prone to illnesses which means that the state would spend thousands of dollars treating them. As the populations age, only fewer people are left working to support the high number of retirees and support the nation’s economy. Furthermore, the change in family dynamics and policies like family planning, infanticide, delayed marriage, and abortion result in a low birth rate, leading to a high number of populations, the elderly, who cannot work (Goldstone and Diamond 10). Heins talks of the childless Generation Z as she mentions the delays in marriage (par. 1). In today’s world, women have embraced the career path more than their older peers who embraced motherhood. Heins also claims that the younger generation also cites climate change and financial constraints as factors that are preventing them from having children (par. 4). With few people working and more spending the little the state has, budget deficits and national debts are bound to occur, making it challenging for democratic institutions to meet the people’s demands with limited resources. Besides the economic challenge, the shrinking population also impacts political participation. The shrinking population reduces the number of voters and the diversity in participation. In this case, most young people are guided by liberal ideologies, while older Surname 4 citizens are conservative. In their text, Brexitland, Sobolewska and Ford state that the due to the younger generation’s weaker sense of duty and lower sense of efficacy, they are less likely to vote since they believe they are less obligated to participate in the democratic process in a government they perceive as corrupt and uncountable (139). With such ideologies and lack of trust in the government, a decline in political participation will be recorded. Thus, with the conservatives aging and shrinking in their populations and the younger generation preferring not to vote, there will be less diversity in political discourse. The economic challenge of wage polarization and inequality generated by globalization and the transition to the post-industrial economy Recently, globalization which has resulted in global trade and increased financial flow has brought both harm and good to the advanced technology in developing countries. Income inequality has been one of the harms brought about by globalization. Furthermore, transitioning to a post-industrial economy has created a rift between skilled and low-skilled workers. Advanced technology is changing work dynamics making jobs less secure for most people, especially low-skilled workers. Organizations are only paying more to highly-skilled workers who can keep up with the ever-evolving technology, proof of the introduction of continuous learning. In such an era, workers will likely lose their jobs if they do not keep up with the advancing technology. The rift between the two groups of workers would eventually result in one group—the low-skilled and low-paid workers—becoming marginalized, leading to social unrest and political instability. Kostelka and Blais ascertain that higher-income workers are more likely to vote than lower-income earners (4). As per the claim, the marginalized worker might not vote since because they believe that the government is corrupted and unfair. The trust in Surname 5 democratic institutions will be lost, with the marginalized turning to populist parties for better solutions. Similarly, economic polarization manifests through the concentration of wealth in a few hands of the bourgeoisie. This means that while the wealthy become wealthier, the poor become poorer despite working extremely hard to fend for themselves. The situation also translates to only a few people having power and influence in political decisions concerning every citizen. As a result, the majority of citizens’ needs would be ignored by the government that was voted in to safeguard the people’s interests and rights. In general, economic inequality destabilizes the principles like inclusion and equality that democracy is based on. The political challenge of nationalism and extremism, mainly in response to large-scale migration Combining nationalism and extremism to challenge democratic institutions like governments threatens democracy by undermining its values. While nationalism focuses on maintaining national identity, extremism aims to reject older ideologies and forcefully impose new views and ideologies on the people. The two ideologies emerged as a response to immigration as the citizens started believing that the immigrants would threaten the national identity and the economy (Wike et al., 2016). Wike et al. further mention that most assume that immigrants would take up their jobs at low wages, enabling organizations to take advantage of such a situation. The people would also fear that the immigrants from different nations with varying cultures would displace their culture, hence, loss of identity. With the states embracing migration, the citizens would claim that the democratic institutions were not handling their fears. Thus, the citizens would settle on new parties with different ideologies to address their issues. Extremist groups might exploit the situation and the Surname 6 citizens’ fear to gain power and control the state. For instance, Boix mentions an instance in Europe in the 1980s when extreme parties tied with the far-right parties at the polls (149). The scenario was the beginning of extremist parties emerging due to the decline in political participation (149). The extremist might use violence to control and oppress immigrants, leading to political unrest and mistrust in governmental institutions. The political leaders would also take the chance to appeal to patriots’ concerns to the extent of undermining the rule of law on which democracy is based. Conclusion Generally, I believe that the demographic challenge of aging and shrinking populations is one of the hardest to solve in the next 10 to 20 years since it is influenced by demographic trends that are impossible to control through policies. Change in family dynamics plays a crucial role in the shrinking of populations resulting in a decline in democracy. These changes, including low birth rates, resulted from shifts in technological innovations, societal norms, and cultural values. For instance, today’s women have embraced family planning to avoid getting pregnant irresponsibly, even while in marriage. Men have joined the women since some go for vasectomies to avoid getting children. In fact, unlike the older generation, who would settle early in life and have children, the younger generations are more focused on pursuing their careers, purchasing properties, and becoming stable before considering getting married. Rather than having children in their early twenties, for younger people, family is the least of their desires. Getting married and having children in their late years has led to a generational gap, meaning there will be highly aging populations ready to retire with few or no workers to take over. The higher divorce rate seems to exacerbate the situation, leading to most of them trying to avoid suffering the consequences and getting destabilized way early in life. In an era where workers Surname 7 have to keep up with the ever-changing technology to survive the job market, who is trying to keep up with a family and children at a young age? Works Cited Sobolewska, Maria and Ford, Robert. “The Long Divorce: Parties and Voters Parting Ways.” Brexitland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, pp. 121–155. Boix, Carles. "5. Dire Straits". Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads: Technological Change and the Future of Politics, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019, pp. 142-176. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691191843-006 Goldstone, Jack A., and Larry Diamond. “Demography and the Future of Democracy.” Perspectives on Politics, vol. 18, no. 3, 2020, pp. 867–880., https://doi.org/10.1017/s1537592719005000. Heins, Camelia. “The Childless Generation: The Consequences of Opting out of Having Children.” New University Organization, 14 Dec. 2021, https://newuniversity.org/2021/12/14/the-childless-generation-the-consequences-of-optingout-of-having-children/. Kostelka, Filip, and André Blais. “The Generational and Institutional Sources of the Global Decline in Voter Turnout.” World Politics, vol. 73, no. 4, 2021, pp. 629–667., doi:10.1017/S0043887121000149. Wike, Richard, et al. “Europeans Not Convinced Growing Diversity Is a Good Thing, Divided on What Determines National Identity.” Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, Pew Research Center, 30 Dec. 2016, https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2016/07/11/europeans-not-convinced-growingdiversity-is-a-good-thing-divided-on-what-determines-national-identity/.
