There are trends, even in Europe, toward so-called “democratures,” but the desire for participation and representation is stronger. Care should be taken not to interpret some data in an authoritarian direction. It was Marc Lazar, French historian and sociologist, who pointed out at the ‘Imagining Peace’ meeting, currently underway in Paris on the initiative of the Community of Sant’Egidio, that “according to the political trust barometer, almost one in two Poles, more than a third of Italians, Germans, and French, believe that it would be very positive to have a strong leader who does not have to worry about Parliament and elections.” Lazar also noted that “a small minority of Germans, Italians, and Poles, and even almost one in four French people, accept the idea that the military could govern their country.” However, this desire for increased authority does not necessarily mean a search for authoritarianism, as it is not a one-sided desire. There is also a strong demand for participation. “78% of Poles, 71% of French, 70% of Germans, and 67% of Italians believe that ‘democracy would work better if citizens were directly involved (petitions, lotteries) in all major political decisions.’” A clear majority of Poles, Italians, Germans, and French believe that democracy would function better “if civil society organizations (associations, unions) were more involved” in such decisions. Furthermore, 51% of French, 58% of Italians, 72% of Poles, and 77% of Germans declare that they are interested in politics. These figures highlight a growing demand for participatory democracy, which, according to Marc Lazar, needs to find new forms. It is a demand not only European and Western but also emerging in Africa.
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa, retraced the Catholic Church’s support for the development of democracy in Africa, starting with his own country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the Cardinal, today there is a need for strong institutions, while “relying on strongmen is a simplification.” Today, however, people prefer to listen to and follow “the shouts of a commander of madmen” rather than “the calm words of the wise.” The challenge of democracy in our time lies precisely here: allowing the voice of the voiceless, the voice of a poor but wise man, to be heard and valued: “As long as this possibility exists, there is hope for salvation for the entire world.”
For Donatella Di Cesare, professor of Philosophy at La Sapienza University of Rome, it would be “a mistake to believe that blood and soil are ghosts of the past. Today, they return to rage thanks to new tricks. Foreigners and migrants are banned in the name of the supposed homogeneity of the inhabitants, sons of their own soil, brothers—without sisters—all belonging to the patrilineal lineage, to the fatherland and its order. But democracy that is driven to naturalize itself, to root itself in the much-trumpeted indigenous origins, is no longer democracy. It is ethnocracy—one of the totalitarian pathologies of democracy. Because the people are a dynamic political form that is constantly recomposing.
