He has no museum in his honor, only a statue and this inscription on the pedestal: “Remained faithful to the Charter / of the old French Chivalry / in a brutal and depraved century / Bayard / man of honor of faith and of kindness / has well deserved the nickname / of Knight without fear / and without reproach”. I met Chevalier Bayard last century in a university amphitheater. I see again the man who would become my thesis director regularly rushing down the stairs, haranguing his audience on the virtues of this white knight, imbued with courage, righteousness and morality, governing the province of Dauphiné without fear of contrary winds and fighting for its values to the point of death…
However, this beginning of the century is sometimes, and in certain respects, as brutal as that experienced by Bayard. There is in the almost physically painful observation that democracy is dying in our arms, in the growing geopolitical tensions which make the drums of war resonate, in this sensation that the world is suffocating a little more every day under the influence of climate change. , this frustrating feeling of not having a grip, this invasive, oppressive, paralyzing helplessness.
Even if many wish to act to change the course of things, many experience hummingbird syndrome, this tiny bird which, in legend, sought to help put out a fire by carrying water in its beak, one drop at a time. , doing its part, while illustrating the emptiness of individual actions in a world beyond us.
Is this why crowds are charmed by the sirens of the extremes? Is this why entire sections of the electorate are being seduced by the indecent errors of populist leeches who are there to maximize their profits at the expense of those they say they are defending? Is this why democracies wall themselves off in greater numbers than other regimes? Is this why they are gradually disappearing in favor of autocracies which now carry more weight economically? Are we — a pacifist democracy, full and complete — an endangered species?
The Demo Finland organization has scrutinized the various reports on democracy (Freedom House, V-Dem and Economist Intelligence Unit). His observation is clear: only 8% of the population live in a full democracy – a category to which, according to the various existing indexes, Canada belongs… but not the United States. And in this changing world, the number of countries drifting towards authoritarianism is double those moving in the opposite direction.
Decline is not fiction. And the turbulence associated with it is not an illusion: research shows that autocracies – contrary to what we sometimes hear – provide harmful environments for the economy, that they are factors of instability increased. Whereas, conversely, democracy offers the stability of a rule of law and channels protest towards compromise rather than political violence. This is what offers the freedom to write these words, or even the freedom to proclaim (as some sometimes do) that we live in a totalitarian state (sic) without risking the gulag.
But we still need to take care of this democracy. Now this is a constitutional sport which requires to be played by gentlemen And gentlemen. Its sustainability requires recognition of a certain sacredness: parliaments are not circuses, politics must remain civilized and leadership maintain a certain solemnity. This means not playing Russian roulette with institutions.
On the one hand, those who choose to bark slogans while waiting to see which one will take off, those who deliberately choose to substantially distort the truth to suit their needs, must be seen for what they are: highwaymen. On the other hand, government by polls – the finger raised to catch the direction of the wind – must be seen for what it is: irresponsible. Whether it leads to the closing of borders, the dissolution of an assembly, the construction of pharaonic infrastructures, or the integration of religion into secular institutions, it is harmful. This style of politics and this mode of government diminish the centrality of the voting process: what is the point of going to the polls if, ultimately, all that matters is the poll of the day? Why not “try” the populist option since ultimately everyone makes multiple promises and no one respects their commitments?
If I were writing to those who govern, fully aware of the merits of their commitment, I would still speak to them about the role they play in political contagion, through the theories of “agenda setting” and “ framing” which explain how decision-makers (political, economic, media), through the choices they make, end up defining the way in which issues are received and perceived. Semantic shifts, terminological choices in speeches, documents, media, affect perceptions of the world in a society.
The normalization of degrading and polarizing terms, the invisibilization of poverty, the dehumanization of sections of society occur through threshold effects, fueled by megaphones, which perhaps were not that originally… but which end up contributing to the decay of political life. Here too the research shows how just a few years — from 2017 to 2020 — changed the tone of a certain number of issues, not only in the United States but elsewhere in the world.
Finally, I would tell them that the norms that define democracy fit together like local or global matryoshkas: they are directly in touch with the values that govern the international order as much as those that govern our individual relationships. And I would add that in this large chessboard where public voices clash, they have a role to play. If I were to write to those who govern, I would tell them of a knight without fear and without reproach, who had chosen righteousness beyond the spirit of the times. And it is him that History remembers.