This is a very weird framing of this study. The original study (which is linked in the article) is in German. Those who don’t speak German will find a useful translation provider, I provide the study’s summary literal translation:
>Young people: EU and democracy are good, but reforms are needed
- 57% prefer democracy to any other form of government - 39% think that the EU does not function particularly democratically
- Young Europeans want change - 53% criticize the EU for being too preoccupied with trivialities instead of focusing on the essentials
- Cost of living, defense against external threats and better conditions for businesses should be priorities for the EU
- Only 42% think that the EU is one of the three most powerful global political players
Among others, the study also says (again, a direct translation, I am not paraphrasing):
48% of young Europeans believe that democracy in their country is under threat, compared to 61% in Germany. Two thirds rate their country’s membership of the EU as positive. At the same time, 53% of young people criticize the fact that the EU is too often concerned with minor issues. Half of 16 to 26-year-olds think the EU is a good idea, but very poorly implemented.
I don’t say that everything is perfect, but the whole study paints a completely different picture than this article - and especially its headline - appears to suggest.
[Edit my comments for clarity, translation has not been edited.]
I knew it. I strongly suspected that the actual feeling “We love democracy and our country is losing its democracy and we don’t like that” was being summarized as “we don’t like democracy anymore” for whatever bullshit reasons, I guess I am sad but not surprised to hear it confirmed.
Thanks for this, much appreciated
I’m not losing faith in democracy, I’m losing the little faith I have in the political parties that call themselves democratic.
I’m losing my faith that capitalism is compatible with democracy in any way. The blatant corruption of all mainstream political parties across all western “democracies” is a core part of that.
Given that the alternative was “authoritarian rule under certain, unspecified circumstances”, what does “democracy” even mean here? Was it presented as a binary choice? That is misleading.
I guess the original question was the typical “Do you trust the government” question. And with conservative governments presiding over a slow decline in living standards while doing nothing to challenge the status quo, it is no wonder they don’t trust the government.
Absolutely. But they they vote in far-right parties that actively make things much worse.
Demoracy only works if the majority of voters are both informed and of sufficient mental werewithal to think critically, and I’m fairly sure both points are doing terribly right now, on a global scale.
Democracy only works when politicians are responsible people improving the country and really listen to the population
Truth be told, most aren’t that smart.
A less cynical take would be that in a world that is more and more fractured, where flimsy digital interactions have replaced a sense of local community and where the discrepancy between the cost of living and wages have made people more competitive and less charitable, it is only natural to be distrustful and to be looking for a culprit for your own misfortune. Right-wing politics have the easy job of just amping up your fear, while left-wing politics need to plead for compassion.
I saw it explained in another article that went deeper into the psychology behind both the right and the left’s messaging. It came down to the point that the left’s overarching message is “you don’t have to partcipate” (in things like exacerbating climate disaster, the rat race, …) while the right’s is “participation is mandatory”, and apparently psychologically the pull is MUCH stronger than the push, so the right have the advantage in these circumstances. We need the left to come up with something unified. Hell, they had the chance in 2016 with Bernie but they’ve since clearly shown they would rather have a republican in charge than “a leftist”, so I have no idea how they’re planning to pull this off.
I couldn’t tell from a quick read of the article (and couldn’t find an English version of the study) but it didn’t seem like it offered democracy and authoritarianism as the only options.
As (an older person) who leans anarchist and has lived through many problems with democracy I agree with the concerns of these young people. However, my alternative isn’t authoritarian rule.
Yes people can dispute the practicality of anarchism, or grossly misunderstand it, I’d disagree with them, but point being there are good if not idealistic alternatives to democracy.
“Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”
George Bernard Shaw
Bourgeois liberal democracy
I’ve lost faith in the so called elite controlled “democracy”.
I haven’t lost faith in rule by the people ie. democracy. I just don’t believe its compatible with heirarchies.
Ie. I’ve become an anarchist. So arguably I believe in democracy way more now.
I’d love to see how much this correlates with compulsive social media usage. If you keep telling people from a young age that the world is about to end, at some point, they’ll start believing it.
It correlates with politicians always lying and police brutality against protests that really threten the elite interests
