Democracy must contest the threat from within

IT HAS been said that the easiest way to take a fortress is from the inside, which probably makes it the easiest way for defenders to lose one too. In an era when democracy and its associated values are under threat from authoritarian politicians, nationalist parties, religious extremists and general online bigotry and dishonesty, it can be all too easy to overlook the danger from within. That danger arises not so much from the colonisation of its institutions by those hostile to democracy, but from the wavering commitment to democracy of those who wish to defend it.

Britain's narrow vote for Brexit and the rise of intolerant politicians with scant regard for facts, logic or democratic norms - such as Donald Trump in the US, Matteo Salvini in Italy and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil - have been a shock to many who trusted in the strength of liberal and democratic values.

They have a sense that the majority of people are too easily misled by deceptive appeals to their worst instincts and that it is regrettable that they should be able to impose their will upon more sophisticated, more tolerant folk. A few even shrug their shoulders and say things such as, "This is what you get with democracy", leaving the listener to ponder whether they are voicing a reluctant acceptance of its defects as well as its virtues, or wishing for an alternative.