A G-7 with leaders in low hours (except Meloni)

The meeting of the G-7, the group of the main advanced economies, exhibits this year with unusual clarity the challenge of the political turbulence that democracies suffer while authoritarian regimes challenge the liberal world order in an increasingly defiant way. Most of the leaders gathered at the meeting in Puglia, a region in southern Italy, are in an extremely fragile political situation, which prevents effective and pragmatic government functionality. The greatest difficulties are facing the American president, Joe Biden, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak does not seem to have any chance of remaining in power, according to polls. Almost the only exception to this general weakness is the Italian leader, Giorgia Meloni, host of the summit.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, arrived in Italy amid unfavorable winds. He faces a difficult electoral round, the legislative ones called after the collapse of his party and the great affirmation of the far right in the European elections. The president had already been suffering from a lack of an absolute majority in Parliament, and everything indicates that for the rest of his mandate he will have to preside over the country with practically ungovernable chambers that will make decision-making difficult.

The European elections have also taken their toll on the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who has received a severe blow – along with his coalition partners – at the polls. This setback exacerbates the executive difficulties that his tripartite government was already suffering from.

Outside the EU, the British leader, Rishi Sunak, also soon faces a general election in which almost all polls predict his defeat, after years of turbulence linked to Brexit and the advent to the front line of British politics of a Unapologetic populism that has plunged the country into obvious dysfunctionality.

In the United States, its president, Joe Biden, suffers in the second part of his mandate from the constraints of a Parliament in which the House of Representatives is in the hands of the Republicans, which has brought legislative action to a screeching halt. That paralysis has affected a vital aid package to Ukraine that took many months to approve, with significant consequences on the battlefield.

Finally, the leaders of Canada and Japan—Justin Trudeau and Fumio Kishida—are also not sailing in calm waters. The Japanese leader has an approval rating among citizens of 26%, according to recent polls.

The only one who arrives with political strength at the summit is the host, Giorgia Meloni, riding a consistent validation of her political position with the success obtained in the European elections, in which she was the most voted list. Italy, however, can hardly represent an example of stability and political consistency. Time will tell if Meloni will be able to continually overcome this historical scourge.

In any case, the joint conclusion is clear. After the great expansion phase after the fall of the Berlin Wall, democracy is in decline in the world, with a negative balance in terms of countries that improve and countries that worsen their democratic quality for decades. It is not all bad news, as demonstrated by the latest elections in Poland, where the liberal bloc has regained power, or in India, where Modi lost his absolute majority and has been forced to agree on a coalition government. But the balance is still negative.

At the summit, Macron referred to the issue of democratic turbulence. He considered that the French expressed at the polls their “anger” at a development of things that they consider unsatisfactory. He defended his decision to call early elections as the best “democratic response.” “We have to do much more, much better, much faster,” he said, to defuse all that discomfort.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, one of the guests at the G-7, said it clearly this Thursday before arriving at the summit: “We have a problem, democracy is at risk. The deniers deny the value of the institutions, of what Parliament is, what the judiciary is,” he warned.

There is a deep unease against the system and its collateral effects that has translated into the rise of anti-system formations – such as the rising far-right – or a slide of previously orthodox formations towards radical positions – such as the US Republicans or the tories British—or simply a great political fragmentation that hinders effectiveness. In the political landscape there are also thriving anti-system leftist options.

In the framework of globalization with excesses, job relocation, precariousness, low wages and inequality, many voters protest against the leaders whom they consider responsible for this drift. The advent of social media has facilitated the spread of extreme ideas and the emergence of hyper-leadership.

Last week, within the framework of the commemorations for the Normandy landings, Biden took advantage of the memory of the courage of the soldiers who fought against totalitarian systems to appeal to his fellow citizens. He reminded them of the value of democracy and urged them to unite so that it lasts.

This is the context that produces turbulence in democracies and that hinders the ability of their leaders to act, as seen at the G-7 summit.

On the other side stand authoritarian leaders whose systems oppress the freedom of citizens and who, in the medium and long term, have serious risks of leading to unbalanced personalisms, political sclerosis and, ultimately, loss of forces dedicated to monitoring and oppressing. . These leaders also exhibit a lack of brilliance due to the absence of normal dialectical mechanisms, but they have, in the short term, a great advantage in operational capacity with respect to democracies.

It is these regimes, such as Russia or China, that today challenge the world order that the United States and its partners have built in recent decades: the members of the G-7, a symbol of Western preeminence (which, in a geopolitical and not a geographical sense, also includes Japan). That preeminence is at risk, and the dysfunctionality that the G-7 shows is as much a cause of this as the rise of China.

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