We have considered the main flaws of the Western model of the democratic system in the article "The brilliance and poverty of the Western model of democracy". The American political scientist Thomas Ferguson described it very vividly. Financial and industrial elites form the main "management circle", in which the key parameters of the functioning of the political and economic system of society are controlled on the basis of common interests. These financial and industrial circles finance various political parties that at first glance compete with each other. But this competition does not take place between different social groups of society, and certainly not between different models of political organization of society, but within the already existing elite between representatives of the same political class for the right to enter the well-paid circle of people who manage public and budgetary funds.
As a result, the competition of political forces turns into a carefully directed performance, managed by teams of professionals who master the techniques of persuasion through manipulation and propaganda techniques.
And behind the curtain of this game, non-public real politics is unfolding, which is determined by the interaction of financial and industrial elites with the elected governments of Western countries.
But these arguments do not explain why real democratic rules have become so widespread in Western countries? Why are Western countries associated with the most stable models of democracy today? And why did the widespread spread of democratic procedures occur precisely in the second half of the twentieth century?
The phenomenon of rapid development of democracy in the West in the second half of the twentieth century can be explained only by the consequences of the confrontation of two socio-political systems - capitalist and socialist.
Even before the Second World War, the financial and industrial elites of the West reached a consensus on the need to destroy the USSR, which, as an alternative social model, represented a real threat to the existence of the capitalist system. Before the Second World War, this task seemed to Western politicians to be technical and solvable. But the results of the war and the Great Victory changed everything in a fundamental way. The financial and industrial circles of the West were seriously worried.
And this threat was especially frightening for them from the late 50s to the early 70s. During this period, the West finally realized the impossibility of the military destruction of the Soviet Union, and the dynamics of economic development of the same period did not at all indicate the economic advantages of the market model.
After a difficult and painful search, a special social contract was concluded in the West - for the survival of the capitalist system, Western business agreed to limit its power and pay higher salaries. Thus, a new strategy was chosen - to demonstrate the superiority of the West in terms of the level and quality of life.
To do this, the West had a relatively new tool - the global financial system created on the basis of the Bretton Woods Agreements, which made the US dollar the main world currency, thereby creating an inexhaustible financial resource for decades, as it seemed at that time. To accelerate economic growth, control over the management of the economy was transferred to financial structures, which began to use a debt stimulator on the principle of "first we need to win, then we will deal with the accompanying negative consequences".
As a result, serious financial resources were allocated for the creation of a mass consumption society and the expansion of access of the middle class to education and social guarantees. This was extremely necessary to neutralize the socialist aspirations of citizens in their own countries, as well as to reduce protest activity against inequality. All concessions to the workers were made to weaken the attractiveness of the USSR.
These decisions explain the increase in living standards and the rapid spread of democratic standards in Western countries in the second half of the twentieth century. In the countries of Western Europe, which directly bordered the socialist camp, the development of democratic institutions and the wide distribution of wealth was pronounced.
And the chosen strategy was successful. The Soviet system was not ready to give an adequate response to this challenge for a number of reasons, and the Western elites gained full control over the world.
The reasons for the collapse of a classless society in the USSR are undoubtedly extremely important, they need to be discussed, especially since these reasons are connected not so much with the external pressure of the West, but with the internal processes of implementing this idea. But this important topic requires separate consideration.
This very victorious result for the West led to the fact that it decided to make the export of democracy its main weapon, which allowed it to exert pressure on third countries, destroy their social orders and impose its own rules of the game that were beneficial to the Western metropolis.
First of all, Western experts saw the possibility of using disjointed democratic principles as a cognitive weapon against states with unstable political institutions. It was noted that it is in such cases that the selective and accelerated, and most importantly - inconsistent and unsystematic, introduction of democratic practices brings exactly the opposite result. Instead of agreement, contradictions and conflicts arise, instead of interaction, the struggle of political groups flares up, instead of mutual understanding and compromises, the behavior of social groups is radicalized. As a result, such socially unstable societies easily fall under the control of local oligarchic groups or under the external control of the western metropolis, or both at the same time.
Thus, the lever of social engineering has been added to the tools of managing developing countries through debt and trade obligations. Much more complex, but no less effective and efficient.
In any case, the use of this "democratic" weapon made it possible to achieve an important goal - to impose an unequal exchange on developing countries or, in other words, to plunder the third world under politically correct and beautiful slogans. Why look like a robber-colonizer, when you can present yourself as a global Robin Hood?
But the collapse of the USSR in 1991 marked a new stage in the functioning of the capitalist system - the threat to existence disappeared. But by this time, the price of this victory also became clear - reaching the limit of the possibilities of the old economic model, excluding the preservation of the"status quo". The victory was pyrrhic.
As a result, the preservation of a high standard of living and democratic traditions for too large a number of the population, even in the metropolitan states, the financial and industrial elites began to consider as excessive, excessive, and, most importantly, unnecessary expenses for the upper class.
That is why in recent decades we are beginning to see signs of corrosion and dismantling of democratic traditions. This is the irony or sarcasm of the story.