Rumors of democracy's demise are greatly exaggerated

May 26, 2020

There are a lot of pundits out there declaring democracy promotion to be dead on arrival in the Trump era. But there's still an important community of activists fighting for the cause against the odds.

 

"Democracy matters and democratic leadership matters, even in the face of a fast-moving crisis like the coronavirus," says Jeffrey Smith, the founder and president of Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit which has worked closely with a number of successful, visionary leaders.

 

In this latest episode of Departures, host Robert Amsterdam speaks with Smith about the trend of global democratic backsliding in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their work together to support opposition figures such as Bobi Wine in Uganda and Tundu Lissu in Tanzania in their respective struggles against authoritarian regimes.

 

For Smith, promoting democracy is critical because holding dictators to account within the international community has become increasingly difficult. "To be very blunt, modern authoritarians have learned to play this so-called 'reform game,' where they absorb massive amounts of external aid while avoiding genuine reform... and this often sets a country back for generations."