Democracy and its Myths. The Pressing Need for a Smart Democracy

Democracy, which has until now proved to be the only political system with long-term viability, is, nonetheless, not a perfect regime or “miracle solution”. With this in mind, Kimon Valaskakis highlights the weaknesses of the system for Futuribles readers and analyses the four myths associated with what he calls “false democracy” — the currently predominant, but superficial version of the democratic ideal. In the author’s view, an awareness of these four myths — the infallibility of the people; the supremacy of direct over representative democracy; the peace-loving nature of democratic countries; and the correlation between national and global democracy — will enable nations and global organizations to be free of them and move towards a “smart, sustainable democracy”, which he presents here in broad outline. Valaskakis insists that such a development has become essential since the beginning of the economic crisis, in order to confront ‘the growing complexity of global challenges’ and avoid backsliding toward more totalitarian regimes.