Democracy Is Dying. We Just Haven't Realized It Yet.

Wesley Sá Teles Guerra

Democracy will not die at the hands of a general, nor will it be buried by a classic coup d'état. There will be no tanks in the streets, no abrupt shutdown of parliaments, no immediate suspension of constitutions. Twenty-first-century democracy dies in a much more subtle, sophisticated, and therefore far more dangerous way: it dies at the hands of its own citizens, who are convinced they are defending it.

We live in a deeply polarized world. A world where truth has ceased to matter, where fake news has been converted into instruments of power and, in many cases, into genuine tools of the State. A world where accusation precedes proof, where condemnation precedes trial, and where emotion is worth more than any evidence.

Meanwhile, the major powers have returned to contesting what they call "areas of interest"—an elegant expression used to hide an ancient reality: the dispute over the control of natural resources, markets, and zones of influence. Colonialism has merely changed its language. A neocolonialism dressed up in a messianic and euphemistic message. But it still means that the strongest countries decide what the resources of the weakest are.

It does not matter if the discourse comes from the left or the right. The formula repeats itself almost mechanically.

First, they appropriate national symbols. The flag ceases to represent all citizens and starts to represent only one political group. The anthem, the armed forces, religion, the national sports team, the very idea of patriotism cease to be collective heritage and become ideological property.

Then comes the division.

Little by little, a simple, almost childish, yet extraordinarily effective logic sets in:

"Us" versus "them," where "We are the patriots," "We are the good citizens," "We defend morality," "We protect the family," "We will save the nation..."

On the other side, political adversaries cease to exist. They become enemies. And when someone stops being viewed as an adversary and starts being viewed as an enemy, any possibility of negotiation vanishes.

Dialogue ceases to be a democratic virtue. The institutions themselves are co-opted by this cognitive dissonance fueled by voluntary alienation, where facts no longer matter... opposition comes to be considered treason.

It is precisely here that authoritarianism is born... fed by this hatred, yet imbued with institutionalization... the normalization of the discourse... the use of democracy against democracy...

Not when a parliament is shut down.

But when a society accepts that certain groups no longer deserve to be heard, when a leader says there will be no elections to prevent the advance of the opposition, or when an elected president criticizes his own country's electoral process to perpetuate himself in power...

And both the left and the right have entered this game... social networks have accelerated this process like never before... using legal subterfuges such as "freedom of speech," the lack of security filters or verification of the truthfulness of news has produced an explosion of fake news and hate speech, along with their normalization and the subsequent dehumanization of the opponent... reaching extremes where their life is worth nothing...

And this is not happening in just a simple failed state—which it is—but in the supposed greatest democracy on the planet...

When Donald Trump challenges international treaties, weakens multilateral institutions, and transforms American foreign policy into a succession of unilateral decisions, he threatens the stability built after World War II.

Even so, millions remain convinced that they are witnessing the rebirth of democracy. The world watches almost in silence, like the subjects in Hans Christian Andersen's tale "The Emperor's New Clothes," where everyone pretends to see the emperor's magnificent garments. No one dares to say that he is naked.

Democracy does not die when elections cease to exist. It dies when citizens stop believing in facts and start believing only in what they wish to be true. It dies when hating the other becomes more important than defending one's own rights. It dies when workers vote against workers, women against women, immigrants against immigrants, and victims of climate change against science itself. It dies when identity is worth more than reality. And the most tragic part is that, when we finally realize the emperor is naked, there may no longer be enough democracy left to say it out loud.

Wesley Sá Teles Guerra is a specialist in internationalization, international cooperation, and paradiplomacy, with a solid academic background from internationally renowned institutions. He is the founder of CERES – Center for International Relations Studies in Brazil, and currently serves as the manager of the Triangular Cooperation Fund between Europe, Latin America, and Africa at the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), headquartered in Madrid.

Throughout his academic and professional career, he completed studies at the Centre de Promoció Econòmica de Barcelona in International Negotiations; at the São Paulo Foundation School of Sociology and Politics (FESPSP) in International Relations and Political Science; at the University of A Coruña (UDC), where he completed a Master’s Degree in Social Policies and Migration; at the Massachusetts Institute of Business, where he obtained an MBA in International Marketing; at the Universitat Carlemany, where he completed a Master’s Degree in Smart Cities; at the International University of Andalusia (UNIA) in European Fund and Project Management; and he is currently a PhD candidate in Sociology at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) in Spain.

He is the author of the works Cadernos de Paradiplomacia, Paradiplomacy Reviews, and Manual de Sobrevivência das Relações Internacionais. He regularly participates in international forums on smart cities, global governance, and paradiplomacy, and has served as a guest commentator for CBN Recife. He was a finalist for the ABANCA Academic Research Prize and is a member of international networks and platforms such as CEDEPEM, ECP, Smart Cities Council, and REPIT, maintaining active participation in international initiatives focused on cooperation, innovation, and governance.