2024 was an extraordinary year of political turmoil that affected countries from country to country and continent to continent. Just around the corner from us, a popular movement led by students and the rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) overthrew the government of Sheikh Hasina. To our west, a coalition of rebels overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad in a surprise attack. Both Hasina and Assad fled the country, the former to India and the latter to Russia. >
These two trends show that seemingly strong dictatorships can crumble like castles in the sand, especially in weaker states that have been held together by strict measures. Of course, the immediate causes differ in each country. In Bangladesh, as the economic crisis mounts, Hasina’s government has exhausted its hard-line tactics to stem the tide of discontent. In Syria, the withdrawal of military aid by Russia, stretched thin by the war with Ukraine, and the withdrawal of military aid by Iran and Hezbollah following the attack by Israel, helped by Turkey’s support for the rebels, and the Assad regime’s accelerated the collapse. >
Bangladesh and Syria may be the most dramatic examples of political turmoil in 2024, but this year’s democratic regimes have been in turmoil. To our east, South Korea declared martial law for a day, followed by calls for the impeachment of President Yun Seok-Yeol. In Japan, the snap election called by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office following the resignation of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has left the party even weaker than before. >
French President Emmanuel Macron made a similar miscalculation. The snap elections he called resulted in significant victories for both right-wing and left-wing opposition parties, and ultimately led to Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s resignation. In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government collapsed in November. Early elections may be held in February 2025. >
In the United States, Donald Trump, an election denier who attempted a coup in 2020, was surprisingly voted into power. In Venezuela, the government of Nicolas Maduro refused to accept the election results and forced the winner into exile. In Mozambique, daily protests against alleged voter fraud began in October and continue to this day. Opposition parties there too are forced into exile. In a further upset, far-right forces have usurped large parts of the European Parliament for the first time in its history, even though centrists still control it.>
Also read: A year of political twists and turns: 3 key stories of 2024>
As the dictator’s power grew, the weaknesses of international institutions were further exposed. The United Nations’ inability to stop Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people (in retaliation for Hamas’ horrific terrorist attacks), or even to protect its own humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), is It makes you look even more unhappy. Even more so than during the US wars in Iraq and Libya 21 years ago, despite incidents of barbaric torture by US and British forces. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, has rejected International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The former received support from US President Joe Biden. As the military-induced civil war in Myanmar enters its fourth year, ASEAN is nowhere to be seen, and North Korea has brought Russia’s war against Ukraine to Asia by sending troops to fight alongside Russia.>
What about India? The rise of politically incited communal violence in our country since 2014 will be reflected in anti-India sentiment in the Maldives and attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh in 2024, with the former a shift in the scene from Sri Lanka. The latter is a change in setting from Pakistan. (Both are obsessed with the economic crisis). >
As countless analysts have noted, India’s influence in its increasingly volatile neighborhood is at one of its lowest levels. By closing its borders to Myanmar’s embattled democracy, the current government is alienating states like Mizoram, whose people are related to Myanmar’s Chin and Zaw ethnic groups. In fact, it became a new trigger for communal conflict in Manipur.
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Further afield, we have repeatedly appeased President Putin, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pleas have failed to bring back the people who were tricked into providing cannon fodder to the Russian military. . Trump will probably semi-decouple Putin from China’s Xi Jinping, but it is unlikely to benefit India. This is because all three leaders despise current and past leaders. As far as our 2023 claim to the leadership of the “Global South” is concerned, it is South Africa’s defense of Palestinian rights that has taken hold of civil society in 2024. >
While the growing power of dictators is worrying for democracies around the world, including in India, there is a silver lining. Although the opposition subsequently lost several state elections, it fared relatively well in the 2024 general election. But they continue to act on the opportunities and lessons presented by Bangladesh’s popular uprising. Rather than exacerbating the country’s social divisions, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and, unfortunately, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have done, the opposition parties have welcomed Bangladesh’s new democratic goals and There is a possibility that Bangladeshi Hindus may seek protection through such assistance. Second, we can learn how to unite disparate forces against dictators, as in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which voted social democrats into power.
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It is inherent in democracy that its proponents focus on domestic reform. But our own history shows that democracies are more securely entrenched when democrats support each other across countries and regions. As Ram Jethmalani reminded Congress in 1977, Indira Gandhi lifted the Emergency partly due to pressure from the British and American Democrats. >
Also read: Backstory: 2024 and its words burned into your memory
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This is a lesson that most democracies seem to have forgotten. Mr. Biden’s Democracy Summit sought to unite a democratically elected government, but the results have been limited as the electoral process itself has been distorted by the use of artificial intelligence, biased election officials, and dishonest media. It didn’t go well. Had he tried to rally democratic parties, in or out of power, the outcome might have been different.>
Oddly enough, this is an opportunity seized by right-wing and xenophobic parties, for example through the National Conservative Movement, which was launched in 2023, and which Argentine President Javier Milei announced earlier this year in Washington and Brussels. He held a conference in 2007 and welcomed Argentina’s xenophobic leaders. The US and Europe in December. >
The fact that right-wing parties are coming together across continents seems to be largely ignored in our country, but members of the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are participating in the Washington conference in August 2024. , the BJP’s condemnation has become international. The democratic conspiracy to oust the party is shockingly hypocritical. Instead of avoiding condemnation of the BJP, more democratic opposition parties might be better off partnering with democratic parties around the world to fight the apparent global wave of authoritarianism. They could all benefit from lessons learned from their counterparts in other countries. I just hope that is my goal for 2025.>
Radha Kumar is a writer and policy analyst. Her latest book is The Republic Relarnt: Renewing Indian Democracy, 1947-2024 (Penguin Vintage). >
