Democracy at crossroads:From people’s power to monopoly’s plaything | Political Economy

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Has democracy eliminated its abilities? This traumatic question bothers political thinkers all over the world today. As the victory of the power of the people, once celebrated, it now looks slightly more than the stability of the monopoly capitalism. The result is tough: Resources and power have been collected by some people, while the majority has been slightly more than the illusion of election. Lenin’s century ancient warnings-under the capitalist system, democracy will work as a veil for the interests of the powerful.

On paper, democracy still flourishes. Anyone can see citizens votes, party campaigns, parliament debates. Nevertheless, under these rituals, democracy has been hollowed out. As the political theory, Sheldon Wulin observed, we are moving towards “Ultimate Society”, where corporations and governments integrate into a smooth machine that neutralize disagreement by pretending to maintain democratic ideas. Porn is left. The substance has disappeared. It is merely a device that legalizes the capitalist greed of very little suffering lives.

Take the United States, where Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns – easily, the mainstream candidates who had openly challenged corporate power, were effectively neutralized by the formation of their party. This message was clear: The challenges of being tied up in wealth and monopoly are not valid within the boundaries of “acceptable” democracy. Or look at India, where there has been political stability with the rise of corporate Titans like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. The lines between business and governance are faded at a place where policies are prepared not for citizens but for parties. The “largest democracy” and “the oldest democracy” stands as a case study of how wealth rapidly orders political destiny.

It is being said that names like Elon Musk or Ambani are talked about, once once discussed with devotion to the heads of state. They command not only the industries but also to the governments, with their decisions as well as crossing the borders. Economist Thomas Pacty has shown that today’s wealth concentration makes rivals of the 19th -century Golded age rivals. Yet the power of today’s billionaires is much more entrenched. Unlike a century ago tycoes, today’s Mogolas do not buy mere influence. He writes the rules, set global principles, and, in some cases, make himself an alternative to government institutions. When governments run to adjust the interests of billionaires in sectors such as space research, artificial intelligence and digital communication, it is difficult to argue that independence is with people. It is no longer an exception to accumulate wealth and power in less and less – this is a clear political reality of our time.

When viewed internationally, the contradictions of democracy are even sharp. Prominent Democrats – especially the United States – Whenever it is in accordance with their strategic or economic interests, the developing world often lives with dictatorship. This dual standard exposes democracy as a geographical political tool much more than a global value. Pakistan is probably a clear example of this. From Ayub Khan to Pervez Musharraf, military rulers legalized their governments and not by the will of the people, but by the Western powers who claimed democratic democracy. The Cold War, the war on terror, and regional rioters gave democratic states easy justification for supporting the dictatorships abroad. In this way, it is a sarcastic manifestation through the will of the people and the democratic system.

Nor do double standards stop there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is widely seen as the most ruthless leader of modern politics, says being democratically elected. Despite the devastating attacks on Gaza and the daily suffering of the Palestinians, it enjoys the support of major democracies. Israeli forces strike where they choose, and endanger international peace, while most of the democratic world covers rather than accountability. The irony is clear: the state working with immunity abroad, while the language of democracy is molding.

This is not the first time the contradiction is over. For decades, Western democracies have shown colorful and material support to South Africa, and justified relations with the brutally excluded government in the name of strategic interests. Governments were reluctant to work, but globally low level solidarity – boycott, distribution campaigns, cultural sanctions and moral pressure by millions of ordinary citizens around the world – forced the policy change. The lesson is unclear: When the ‘Democratic’ governments fail to maintain their claimant values, these are often people’s movements that turn the arc of history towards justice. Today, since the Gaza bombing and the Palestinians tolerated the disposal, the question is whether the world will once again allow geographical political development to eclipse moral explanation – or will civil society all over the world demand a commitment that will help end tackling?

The error is global. In Sri Lanka, citizens in 2022 entered the streets against the leaders who believed that they were subjected to mismanagement of the economy by protecting the elite from accountability. Bangladesh has seen several cycles of elections through accusations of dictatorship and corruption. Nepal’s critical democratic experience has been affected by instability and the arrest of the elite. Indonesia, which is often known as the story of a democratic success in Southeast Asia, faces deep concerns about Olegric politics.

Meanwhile, in the developed world, the crisis wears a different mask. Popular leaders in Europe and the United States are not against the monopoly power, but rather affect public frustration against immigrants and minorities. Fear replaces solidarity. Alternatives of justice thesiscipogoetatoots. On September 13, Tommy Robinson, a renowned right -wing activist, gathered more than 100,000 people in London to protest against immigrants and demanded that they return to the countries of their origin. It has become a new routine in the developed world. Hannah Arandat’s absolute alteration resonates loudly: When democratic institutions fail to provide dignity and equality, resentment becomes fertile and fertility of authoritarian tendencies.

This is a moment to calculate. If democracy is not more than the platform to carry out its own power of monopolies, then it has already failed. But history offers another way. Democracy has previously survived the crisis. It was saved every time by being popular: labor unions, civil rights movement, anti -colonial struggle. As the political theory Chantal Mofi has argued, democracy can be resurrected – which is nominated as people’s politics, not corporations. For this, it needs to go beyond the myths that are equal to democracy. Democracy should participate, not performance. Re -division, not extractor. It should give citizens the authority to make decisions, to hold the elite accountable and to resist the monopoly of resources and institutions.

The challenge is strong, but alternatives are still serious. If citizens resign themselves from the fall of democracy, the power of monopoly will be tightened in a new elite. Three three steps are important to resist this. First, the lower levels arranged: social movements, unions, community groups and urban unions will have to rebuild the culture of democratic participation from the bottom. Change rarely comes from the elite. It is won by ordinary people demanding dignity.

Second, the World Code of Monopolization: Collecting un -examined wealth is not just a national issue. In the world of borderless finance and technology, international cooperation is essential to taxing ultra -rich taxes, regularizing corporations and preventing public goods from private hands. Third, strengthening democratic institutions: Parliament, courts and the media should be protected from corporate arrest and political manipulation. Independent surveillance and citizens’ accountability procedures can help restore the credibility of the institutions that have eliminated public confidence.

The choice is clear. Either democracy is a hollow ritual that serves the interests of monopoly, or is recovered as a true expression of people’s will. The hour is late, but not beyond rid. Since the struggle against colorfulness proved to be once, when people organize across the borders and demand accountability, the most entering system of injustice can be forced to change. Democracy will either be claimed again by people – or this democracy will end.

The author is a professor at the Faculty of Liberal Arts at the Beacon House National University in Lahore.