Is violence against politicians on the rise?

Japan, Slovakia, Ecuador… Before the assassination attempt on Saturday against Donald Trump, many countries were affected by violence against political figures.

Since Saturday, July 13, the image has been saturating televisions around the world: Donald Trump, with a bloody ear and a raised fist, harangues his supporters after being targeted by a shooter. His status as the favorite for the presidency of the most powerful country in the world, coupled with this unreal scene, explain why this news story is shaking up all the others.

But in recent years, many democracies have been hit by episodes of political violence. In Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead in the middle of an election campaign in July 2022. In Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fico was seriously injured on May 15, 2024, shot five times at close range. In Ecuador in 2023, one of the presidential candidates, Fernando Villavicencio, is shot dead as he leaves a rally. So many attacks that have been less talked about, but which shake democratic regimes.

Although political violence has always existed, it is difficult not to observe a resurgence. Moreover, the Spanish press is bringing the word “magnicide” – etymologically: the “murder of the powerful“. This violence also affects lesser-known, more local political leaders. Think of British MP Jo Cox, murdered during the Brexit campaign. Or the recent attack in Germany on MEP Matthias Ecke. According to German police figures, verbal and physical attacks on elected officials have doubled in five years.

Certainly, each country has its own history, its own context, but we observe a global tendency towards polarization,radicalizing currents of opinion and a warlike rhetoric of “U.S. against them“As if the political camps had become entrenched camps. Add to this the confinement in information bubbles, the race for indignation, encouraged by social networks, as well as a pinch of conspiracy theories and victimization: you get the fertile ground for this violence. The exact opposite of democratic thinking, which allows for debate without fighting.