DISINFO: Western democracies have degenerated into a clique of oligarchic cartels
SUMMARY
Western democracies have degenerated into a clique of oligarchic cartels.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that seeks to discredit Western liberal-democracies by claiming that the latter are, in reality, dictatorships masked as democracies and are ruled by, and in the interest of, globalist elites or “secret élites”. No evidence is provided for the article’s claims. The institutional principles that characterise liberal-democratic systems today are the limitation of the exercise of political power by the rule of law, free and fair elections, the freedom of assembly, association, and of the press as well as the protection of fundamental rights. These principles give liberal democracies much greater possibilities than authoritarian regimes to limit the power of élites and to gear government policies to the interests of broad strata of society and not just to the interests of powerful groups. In illiberal and autocratic regimes, instead, oligarchic groups often capture state institutions and pursue their interests with little restraint, imposing serious economic and social harm on the vast majority of society. Read previous cases claiming that the West’s open societies are totalitarian dictatorships masked as democracies and that the US is a dictatorship that is responsive only to the super-rich.