1 00:00:00,270 --> 00:00:12,440 [Music] 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:14,420 [Applause] 3 00:00:14,420 --> 00:00:20,198 [Music] 4 00:00:29,599 --> 00:00:31,199 good morning everybody it's nice to see 5 00:00:31,199 --> 00:00:32,640 so many people here 6 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,440 uh as we draw towards the final sessions 7 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:36,480 of this conference 8 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:38,640 um um i'm going to be moderating a 9 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,559 discussion my name is robin shepard 10 00:00:40,559 --> 00:00:42,160 i'm the vice president of halifax 11 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:44,399 international security forum 12 00:00:44,399 --> 00:00:46,719 and we'll have four fantastic uh 13 00:00:46,719 --> 00:00:47,840 participants 14 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:50,160 but before we do and in a radical 15 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:51,840 departure from usual practice we're 16 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:53,520 going to actually have a fact-based 17 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:54,640 discussion 18 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,760 so i'd like to invite from globsec 19 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,480 dominica uh haidu and katka klingova who 20 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:01,600 are going to give us some 21 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:03,600 some stats and some polling evidence to 22 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,000 work with 23 00:01:07,119 --> 00:01:09,760 thanks a lot robin good morning everyone 24 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:11,439 present here and online my name is 25 00:01:11,439 --> 00:01:12,640 dominika haidu 26 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,400 my name is catherine aklinkova and we're 27 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,560 researchers from uh democracy 28 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:18,799 and resilience center at globesec in 29 00:01:18,799 --> 00:01:20,080 which we focus on 30 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,560 um protecting democracy and democratic 31 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:23,360 processes 32 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:25,360 uh against efforts that are trying to 33 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:26,400 undermine them 34 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,240 and in practice this means that we study 35 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,159 both domestic and foreign actors the 36 00:01:30,159 --> 00:01:31,759 channels to which they operate 37 00:01:31,759 --> 00:01:33,520 the narratives they share and the impact 38 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:35,840 this all has on the societies 39 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:37,840 one of the means that we measure this 40 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:38,880 impact is 41 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,079 our public opinion polls that look 42 00:01:42,079 --> 00:01:45,119 into public attitudes towards key issues 43 00:01:45,119 --> 00:01:47,920 shaping the world and that's why we're 44 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:48,960 here we're actually 45 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:50,560 uh here to give you a snapshot of the 46 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:52,240 results of our research which is the 47 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:53,920 latest one it's called globsec trends 48 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:54,880 2021 49 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:56,320 you can find it online and also 50 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,520 everywhere here around the hotel 51 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:01,360 and this we want to set the tone for the 52 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,439 next session on regenerating 53 00:02:03,439 --> 00:02:05,759 uh democracies worldwide and to make 54 00:02:05,759 --> 00:02:07,200 this a bit more interesting we would 55 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:08,000 like to start 56 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,399 with a poll so if we would like to if we 57 00:02:10,399 --> 00:02:12,480 could ask you to go to the app 58 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,599 and select this stage which is a maria 59 00:02:15,599 --> 00:02:17,200 theresa stage 60 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,239 you should already be able to see the 61 00:02:20,239 --> 00:02:21,360 first question 62 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:23,440 of the poll which is actually related to 63 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:25,360 this data from the globsec trends 64 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,640 yes so the first question for for for 65 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:30,879 us to you is um how do you think that 66 00:02:30,879 --> 00:02:31,760 the situation 67 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:33,920 in central and eastern europe changed 68 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:34,879 over the 69 00:02:34,879 --> 00:02:36,959 past year within the pandemic do you 70 00:02:36,959 --> 00:02:38,720 think that the support for 71 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,040 democracy has to increase or the support 72 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:45,280 for authoritarian leaders has increased 73 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:49,519 yeah this is actually in the past two 74 00:02:49,519 --> 00:02:50,000 years we 75 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:51,440 asked these questions you know whether 76 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:53,040 the respondents in central and eastern 77 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:54,000 europe 78 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,319 think that democracy based on equal 79 00:02:56,319 --> 00:02:57,680 rights and 80 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,720 regular election is good or bad system 81 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:01,920 of governments for 82 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:04,319 uh the particular country and we also 83 00:03:04,319 --> 00:03:06,239 ask them whether a strong leader who 84 00:03:06,239 --> 00:03:07,840 does not have to bother 85 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,239 with parliament or elections is good or 86 00:03:10,239 --> 00:03:11,840 bad for their country so we asked two 87 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,280 separate questions 88 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,720 um and yeah um this is what the ce 89 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:17,680 responded 90 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,280 yeah at the moment we have yeah exactly 91 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,599 uh as you can see from this chart uh it 92 00:03:23,599 --> 00:03:24,959 actually is both 93 00:03:24,959 --> 00:03:26,720 uh and this is one of the the 94 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:28,720 dichotomies that we observed that 95 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,680 uh while 84 of central and eastern 96 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:33,680 european think that democracy is a good 97 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:34,159 system 98 00:03:34,159 --> 00:03:38,159 of their government at the same time 42 99 00:03:38,159 --> 00:03:40,319 of central and east europeans think that 100 00:03:40,319 --> 00:03:42,400 the strong autocratic leader 101 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,200 is as well good for their government and 102 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:46,000 actually the support 103 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,000 for the autocratic leader has risen by 104 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:49,280 15 105 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,040 in the last year and the strongest 106 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:52,879 support you can see it from the chart 107 00:03:52,879 --> 00:03:53,200 for 108 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,319 for the strong leadership is in bulgaria 109 00:03:56,319 --> 00:03:57,040 romania 110 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,560 and latvia do we have anybody 111 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:02,480 from in the audience you know from 112 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:04,000 romania from 113 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,599 bulgaria yeah well you have a lot of 114 00:04:07,599 --> 00:04:09,120 things to do back home 115 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,519 when you get back home no but we see 116 00:04:11,519 --> 00:04:12,959 this is a dangerous trend which we can 117 00:04:12,959 --> 00:04:14,640 observe these days you know on one hand 118 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:16,320 people support democracy 119 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,279 on the other hand they also have some 120 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:21,440 sympathies towards strong leaders 121 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,320 so towards other perhaps other regimes 122 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:25,440 at the same time 123 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,080 so we can now go to the second poll yes 124 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,080 the second question we want to ask you 125 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,199 is whom do central europeans 126 00:04:33,199 --> 00:04:35,040 trust the most is it the national 127 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:36,560 governments it is the 128 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,120 medical authorities and and scientists 129 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:40,560 is it the media or 130 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,600 is it armed forces what do you think 131 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,440 so while we wait for your answer so we 132 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:46,720 just want to highlight a few of 133 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,040 other highlights a few findings which 134 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:50,000 draw a picture 135 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,880 of satisfaction and trust in this region 136 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:53,280 um 137 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:55,759 so for example 59 of central and eastern 138 00:04:55,759 --> 00:04:56,639 europeans 139 00:04:56,639 --> 00:04:58,160 believe that their national governments 140 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,800 handled it by the pandemic badly 141 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,759 and at the same time 37 of central and 142 00:05:03,759 --> 00:05:04,160 eastern 143 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:06,160 europeans believe that the official 144 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,000 number of the covet 145 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,400 cases is actually lower that the 146 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:11,280 authorities 147 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:13,520 are telling them so they think that the 148 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,320 national authorities are actually lying 149 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,400 and yes you are correctly assuming that 150 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,080 the trust in the national government 151 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,720 is low i think we can actually show the 152 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:24,560 audience the result now 153 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,000 what are the correct answers yes it's 154 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,240 armed forces and medical authorities and 155 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:31,120 scientists 156 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:32,400 actually when it comes to national 157 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,560 governments the trust is now at 42 158 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:35,039 percent 159 00:05:35,039 --> 00:05:36,800 in the entire region so now actually 160 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:38,880 more people distress their governments 161 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,600 than they trust them and uh at the same 162 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:43,440 time yes the trust in the media 163 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,320 is low and it actually has uh decreased 164 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,080 also in the past year 165 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,120 but 72 percent of central and europeans 166 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:55,039 believe and trust armed forces and 68 167 00:05:55,039 --> 00:05:59,120 uh trust doctors and scientific experts 168 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,199 so we see that these political 169 00:06:01,199 --> 00:06:02,400 institutions 170 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,120 and and individuals are actually getting 171 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,280 more trust or are having more trusted 172 00:06:07,280 --> 00:06:09,280 political institutions 173 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:11,120 so the question is how we cope with such 174 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,880 a distrust 175 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,520 and what do we do next what policy 176 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:16,960 measures do we need to 177 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,120 establish in order to make the situation 178 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,039 better but the answers luckily are not 179 00:06:21,039 --> 00:06:22,720 upon us but it's uh 180 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,440 the our fantastic speakers which will 181 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,199 probably have some answers for us so 182 00:06:27,199 --> 00:06:28,720 let's hear them out then back to you 183 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:29,600 robin 184 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:35,840 thank you thank you thank you very much 185 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,080 uh some of those figures are slightly 186 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:41,440 alarming and uh 187 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:43,440 uh i'm going to invite ivan krasieff and 188 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,560 kalinda grab akitarovic to come to the 189 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:48,800 stage and uh i i can't let the moment 190 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:50,080 pass for very long 191 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:51,440 uh although i will uh do some 192 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:53,120 introductions first uh 193 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,960 uh that bulgaria seemed to have a uh a a 194 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:58,800 penchant for strongman leaders and ivan 195 00:06:58,800 --> 00:06:59,759 krastief 196 00:06:59,759 --> 00:07:01,919 is from bulgaria he's the chairman of 197 00:07:01,919 --> 00:07:02,800 the center for 198 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:06,000 liberal strategies in sofia 199 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,280 although he's based just an hour's drive 200 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:10,560 away from here 201 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,759 in vienna kalinda grab akitarovic 202 00:07:13,759 --> 00:07:17,360 is the former president of uh 203 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,400 croatia and uh kalinda you know halifax 204 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:22,880 international security forum is based in 205 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:24,400 washington dc 206 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:26,800 and uh the word on the street in 207 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:28,400 washington dc is that you're the front 208 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:29,759 runner to be the next secretary general 209 00:07:29,759 --> 00:07:31,280 of nato so uh 210 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:32,960 in terms of defending our democracies 211 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,960 this is a an interesting uh 212 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:36,960 an interesting development uh yen 213 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,199 stoltenberg steps down in september 214 00:07:39,199 --> 00:07:41,520 of next year uh so we'll be watching 215 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:42,880 this space very closely 216 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,240 and very carefully remotely we're joined 217 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,759 by damon wilson who is the executive 218 00:07:49,759 --> 00:07:52,720 vice president of the atlantic council 219 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:53,759 and soon to be 220 00:07:53,759 --> 00:07:56,000 the president of the national endowment 221 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:57,680 for democracy in the united states a 222 00:07:57,680 --> 00:07:59,520 very important position welcome 223 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,919 uh damon uh we're also joined it's a 224 00:08:01,919 --> 00:08:03,360 particular pleasure to have somebody 225 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:03,919 from 226 00:08:03,919 --> 00:08:08,080 india by neelam dio who's the director 227 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,759 and co-founder of gateway house 228 00:08:11,759 --> 00:08:14,639 in new delhi so welcome to everybody 229 00:08:14,639 --> 00:08:16,400 this is a great discussion it's the key 230 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:17,840 discussion of the moment 231 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:19,440 uh unfortunately it has been the key 232 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:20,960 discussion for many years 233 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:22,160 and what i'd like to do in this 234 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,840 discussion as much as anything else 235 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,080 is see if we can actually go beyond 236 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,479 spending 45 minutes simply lamenting the 237 00:08:30,479 --> 00:08:32,080 state of our democracies 238 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:33,679 um having a bit of a whine about 239 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:35,839 populists um we do that all the time 240 00:08:35,839 --> 00:08:37,360 let's see if we can actually 241 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,399 make some concrete suggestions as to how 242 00:08:40,399 --> 00:08:42,640 we make the situation better and i think 243 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:44,000 even more than that 244 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,560 to get to a place where we don't simply 245 00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:48,720 dismiss the public let alone denigrate 246 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:50,720 the public and take their concerns 247 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,320 seriously i think since we started out 248 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:54,880 with some 249 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,360 some facts of the matter uh i think it's 250 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:58,320 also um 251 00:08:58,320 --> 00:08:59,839 very important for us to get a sense of 252 00:08:59,839 --> 00:09:01,440 what actually is going on 253 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,519 in our democracies um and i'm 254 00:09:03,519 --> 00:09:05,279 particularly therefore pleased to to ask 255 00:09:05,279 --> 00:09:07,200 the first question to nilandayo 256 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,200 in new delhi india is famously the 257 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:12,160 world's 258 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,800 largest democracy so the question is how 259 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:15,760 democratic 260 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,279 is the world's largest democracy 261 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,920 so thank you robin i'm delighted to be 262 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:23,040 able to join 263 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,360 this discussion and actually we are 264 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:27,839 based in mumbai not delhi 265 00:09:27,839 --> 00:09:30,320 and that's a big difference being out of 266 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:31,279 the 267 00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:34,640 heat of a political center so i would 268 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:35,600 say that 269 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,320 india is pretty democratic we have a 270 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:39,200 leader 271 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,000 the prime minister has a popularity 272 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:42,720 rating of 273 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,480 over 70 percent despite how problematic 274 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:48,320 the second wave of 275 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,600 the pandemic has been for india with 276 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:53,680 high numbers of casualties 277 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:57,440 uh uh more actual breakdown of the 278 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:00,880 health uh infrastructure but i think the 279 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:02,480 point to note here 280 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:04,480 is that in india we have free and fair 281 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:05,680 elections 282 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:08,399 for the federal government as also for 283 00:10:08,399 --> 00:10:10,240 the state governments 284 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:12,560 although the prime minister remains very 285 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:13,600 popular 286 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:17,440 he has just lost three state government 287 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:22,000 elections and quite resoundingly 288 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,680 and in no case has anybody uh 289 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:29,120 refused to accept the results 290 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,320 of the elections as we had in the united 291 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:33,519 states or we have 292 00:10:33,519 --> 00:10:38,079 now in you know peru or israel or 293 00:10:38,079 --> 00:10:39,040 whatever 294 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:42,160 people will challenge election results 295 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:43,760 in constituencies 296 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,959 but not the overall result 297 00:10:46,959 --> 00:10:50,160 on the other hand india suffers from all 298 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:51,200 the things 299 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,399 that afflict democracies everywhere the 300 00:10:54,399 --> 00:10:56,959 parliament does not function very well 301 00:10:56,959 --> 00:10:59,760 the judiciary is often accused of being 302 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:00,880 politicized 303 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,480 and sometimes obviously and rightly so 304 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,760 the media is split between those who are 305 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,079 harshly critical of the government and 306 00:11:10,079 --> 00:11:12,240 those who can only find 307 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,120 things to praise the government about 308 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:17,200 police forces 309 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:19,839 in many states are actually quite 310 00:11:19,839 --> 00:11:21,279 politicized 311 00:11:21,279 --> 00:11:23,600 the more important thing to my mind is 312 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:25,079 that political 313 00:11:25,079 --> 00:11:28,480 mobilization is on the basis of 314 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,079 the fissures in our society religion 315 00:11:32,079 --> 00:11:36,399 caste there is no political ideology 316 00:11:36,399 --> 00:11:39,760 animating our political parties here 317 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:43,920 just as i do not see any ideology 318 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:47,120 and animating uh politics uh elsewhere 319 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:48,399 in the world 320 00:11:48,399 --> 00:11:50,000 well nina this is exactly what i was 321 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,160 going to ask you i mean you you know 322 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:54,320 mr modi's popularity ratings you said 323 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:55,279 are somewhere above 324 00:11:55,279 --> 00:11:57,839 70 why why is he so popular what is it 325 00:11:57,839 --> 00:11:59,040 that indians 326 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,200 uh i mean given that it's 70 this must 327 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,360 cut a lot across a lot of the 328 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:05,600 despite the stereotypes cut across a lot 329 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:06,560 of the different 330 00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:08,800 sections of a very diverse population 331 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:09,600 what is 332 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:11,760 why is he so popular what do people like 333 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:13,040 about him so much 334 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,160 i think a couple of factors one is 335 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,519 that uh political parties in india 336 00:12:19,519 --> 00:12:22,959 as maybe elsewhere are now owned 337 00:12:22,959 --> 00:12:25,600 they are owned either by money or 338 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:27,360 lobbying powers 339 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,639 or as in the case of india by families 340 00:12:30,639 --> 00:12:34,240 uh the only other real main you know 341 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:36,800 all india party the congress party 342 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:37,600 belongs 343 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:40,800 to the gandhi nehru family and does not 344 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:41,839 have any very 345 00:12:41,839 --> 00:12:44,959 talented politician in that family 346 00:12:44,959 --> 00:12:48,079 any longer so people 347 00:12:48,079 --> 00:12:50,880 have what we call the tina factor there 348 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:51,360 is no 349 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,360 alternative and the prime minister 350 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:55,040 continues to rate 351 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:57,440 higher in terms of who the people want 352 00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:58,800 for prime minister 353 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:01,360 than he does in a lot of other elements 354 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:02,399 of polls 355 00:13:02,399 --> 00:13:04,320 whether they think the economy is doing 356 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,959 well whether they think the pandemic was 357 00:13:06,959 --> 00:13:07,920 handled well 358 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:09,920 in all of those they will the government 359 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:11,440 gets a lower 360 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:13,519 percentage of support but they get a 361 00:13:13,519 --> 00:13:15,440 higher percentage of support 362 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,839 because uh they think there isn't an 363 00:13:18,839 --> 00:13:20,399 alternative 364 00:13:20,399 --> 00:13:23,920 political party to be able to lead 365 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:27,279 the whole country rather than just 366 00:13:27,279 --> 00:13:29,760 some of the state governments where 367 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:33,920 regional parties actually do very well 368 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:35,440 thank you very much for that overview 369 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:37,360 it's absolutely fascinating and i think 370 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:37,680 we'll 371 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:40,160 we'll do a little bit of overviewing um 372 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:41,680 for the first five or ten minutes before 373 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:42,959 we go on to as i said 374 00:13:42,959 --> 00:13:44,720 trying to get to some some concrete 375 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:46,639 suggestions as to what we do 376 00:13:46,639 --> 00:13:48,800 damon wilson in washington d.c that's 377 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:49,920 indeed where you are 378 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:53,279 uh right this second um uh damon um 379 00:13:53,279 --> 00:13:55,360 american democracy has been under the 380 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:56,480 spotlight it's always under the 381 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:58,160 spotlight because america is 382 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,320 is the is the most important democracy 383 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:02,079 in the world let's be clear about that 384 00:14:02,079 --> 00:14:04,079 um it is the most influential it's the 385 00:14:04,079 --> 00:14:05,440 one everybody's watching 386 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:07,600 um the the racial question the racial 387 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:09,279 divide in the united states is right at 388 00:14:09,279 --> 00:14:10,720 the forefront of the discussion i live 389 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:11,920 in washington dc 390 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:13,440 you can't turn on the television news 391 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,680 without this being discussed 392 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:16,880 from the perspective of people like 393 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:18,560 vladimir putin of course this is a sign 394 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:19,519 of weakness 395 00:14:19,519 --> 00:14:21,519 but actually the discussion in in my 396 00:14:21,519 --> 00:14:23,440 opinion and i put it to you 397 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,160 is a sign of strength insofar as you 398 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:27,760 would agree with that 399 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,160 how do you assess the state of american 400 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:31,519 democracy right now 401 00:14:31,519 --> 00:14:34,000 and is there is there a real prospect of 402 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,079 advancement in these very contentious 403 00:14:36,079 --> 00:14:36,800 issues 404 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,199 that clearly have and continue to divide 405 00:14:39,199 --> 00:14:42,480 the united states of america 406 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:44,480 thank you and yes i am joining from 407 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:46,399 washington i wish i were with all of you 408 00:14:46,399 --> 00:14:48,160 in person but it's uh 409 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:49,440 such a pleasure to be back with the 410 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:51,839 globex family and this uh fantastic 411 00:14:51,839 --> 00:14:55,199 uh uh panel as well robin i think you're 412 00:14:55,199 --> 00:14:56,880 right what's playing out right now in 413 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:57,839 the united states 414 00:14:57,839 --> 00:15:01,040 it's messy and you see a lot of debate a 415 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:01,920 lot of tension 416 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:04,399 political polarization sharp social 417 00:15:04,399 --> 00:15:05,839 cleavages 418 00:15:05,839 --> 00:15:08,639 and yet where we began this conversation 419 00:15:08,639 --> 00:15:09,199 was with 420 00:15:09,199 --> 00:15:11,199 a survey of public opinion public 421 00:15:11,199 --> 00:15:12,320 attitudes 422 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,959 what do our people think and that is the 423 00:15:14,959 --> 00:15:15,920 reality 424 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:18,399 of democracy that it's a reflection of 425 00:15:18,399 --> 00:15:19,199 our people 426 00:15:19,199 --> 00:15:22,240 of their fears their wants their desires 427 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,440 and the process of american democracy 428 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,320 is messy but it is a fundamentally one 429 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:30,639 that is 430 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,639 i think we just lost in mid-sentence 431 00:15:34,639 --> 00:15:36,480 let's see if it comes back 432 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:37,920 all right we'll go back uh we'll come 433 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:39,199 back to damon he was making a very 434 00:15:39,199 --> 00:15:40,880 important point there but let's uh jump 435 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:42,720 in with ivan crusty if i did say 436 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:44,320 and i can't avoid asking you this with 437 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,240 the opinion polling we just saw 438 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,480 uh this the penchant for strongman 439 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:49,839 leadership in bulgaria looks pretty 440 00:15:49,839 --> 00:15:50,240 strong 441 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,160 is that a fair reflection of what's 442 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,480 going on in in bulgaria 443 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:55,839 and other parts of central and eastern 444 00:15:55,839 --> 00:15:57,920 europe where romania was also a country 445 00:15:57,920 --> 00:15:59,279 with a high degree of 446 00:15:59,279 --> 00:16:01,120 support for the notion of a strongman 447 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:02,720 leader 448 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:04,480 robin you know there was this christian 449 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,079 tradition that people who committed 450 00:16:06,079 --> 00:16:07,120 suicide 451 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:08,880 should be buried outside of the 452 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:10,160 graveyards 453 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:11,680 i do believe people who do not read 454 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:13,360 opinion polls should be 455 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,199 buried outside of the graveyards but 456 00:16:15,199 --> 00:16:16,959 people who basically read too much in 457 00:16:16,959 --> 00:16:18,560 the opinion polls 458 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:20,000 should be buried outside of the 459 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:21,600 graveyards too 460 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,519 we start with the assumptions that 461 00:16:23,519 --> 00:16:24,959 people 462 00:16:24,959 --> 00:16:27,199 all the time clash idea of democracy 463 00:16:27,199 --> 00:16:28,639 with the idea of the strong leadership 464 00:16:28,639 --> 00:16:29,920 it's not true 465 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,240 you go through a major crisis and people 466 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:33,440 are looking for 467 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:35,279 strong leaders but they want these 468 00:16:35,279 --> 00:16:37,600 leaders to be elected by them 469 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:38,959 so from this point of view if you're 470 00:16:38,959 --> 00:16:41,279 going to ask what people answering 471 00:16:41,279 --> 00:16:42,639 they believe that in the moment of 472 00:16:42,639 --> 00:16:44,000 crisis they have a leaders that have 473 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:45,920 certain discretionary powers 474 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:47,759 this was a poll being done during the 475 00:16:47,759 --> 00:16:50,079 pandemic there is a problem with 476 00:16:50,079 --> 00:16:52,079 democracy and there is a dissatisfaction 477 00:16:52,079 --> 00:16:54,000 with democracy in bulgaria and this is 478 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,800 very much uh there and you can see this 479 00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:58,079 very much happening 480 00:16:58,079 --> 00:17:01,519 it does not mean that people are seeing 481 00:17:01,519 --> 00:17:03,839 authoritarian leader in the lack of the 482 00:17:03,839 --> 00:17:05,839 end of democracy as an alternative 483 00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:07,520 so in a certain way for me the real 484 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:09,839 problem in most of our countries 485 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:12,640 is not that authoritarianism is on rise 486 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:13,039 but 487 00:17:13,039 --> 00:17:14,559 the border between democracy and 488 00:17:14,559 --> 00:17:17,039 authoritarianism is the least protected 489 00:17:17,039 --> 00:17:19,119 border in the region 490 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:20,959 and you have a level of dissatisfaction 491 00:17:20,959 --> 00:17:22,799 bulgaria goes for elections 492 00:17:22,799 --> 00:17:26,000 also political cycles matters 493 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:27,599 there was a government that basically 494 00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:30,320 was in power for the last 10 12 years 495 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:32,720 listen nevertheless how good you are you 496 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:34,480 are not aging well in power 497 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,120 this is part of the story too so from 498 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:38,640 this point of view bulgaria is ready for 499 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:40,799 change 500 00:17:40,799 --> 00:17:42,480 and this is the most important in my 501 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:43,919 view in all our talks 502 00:17:43,919 --> 00:17:46,160 it's not simply democracies in crisis 503 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:48,799 modern societies are changing a lot 504 00:17:48,799 --> 00:17:50,960 they're changing demographically they're 505 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:52,559 changing technologically 506 00:17:52,559 --> 00:17:54,880 they're changing economically and people 507 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,360 cannot make sense of this change 508 00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:00,400 because for me what has changed most is 509 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,280 people ask these days to have an opinion 510 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:04,960 about things that they cannot have a 511 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:07,280 personal experience on 512 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,520 before 50 or 60 of the things that have 513 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:10,960 been discussed in politics 514 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:12,799 you have certain personal experience on 515 00:18:12,799 --> 00:18:14,240 which you can rely 516 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,360 now how i can know what is happening 517 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:19,520 with the coronavirus and so on 518 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,280 and then of course this information 519 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:23,039 space which was totally 520 00:18:23,039 --> 00:18:25,200 fragmented and which basically was 521 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,360 poisoned is something that is changing 522 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:28,720 people perceptions 523 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:31,600 but with all dissatisfaction it's not my 524 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:32,799 view 525 00:18:32,799 --> 00:18:35,120 that central and eastern europe is 526 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:36,480 basically embracing 527 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:38,880 some type of authoritarian models ask 528 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:40,240 people do you want 529 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:43,200 elections to be banned and then you're 530 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:43,919 going to see 531 00:18:43,919 --> 00:18:47,200 no they want to have the power 532 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,840 to dismiss the same strong leaders that 533 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:51,679 they're working for 534 00:18:51,679 --> 00:18:53,120 yeah yes it's interesting isn't it we 535 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:54,880 can we can certainly find opinion poll 536 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:56,080 evidence which makes us all very 537 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:57,840 depressed but but actually at the end of 538 00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:58,960 the day if you say to people 539 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:00,960 all right so you want to really abolish 540 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:03,440 elections and just have a dictator or a 541 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:04,559 monarch or something 542 00:19:04,559 --> 00:19:06,799 nobody actually wants that to happen um 543 00:19:06,799 --> 00:19:08,640 calinda i wanted to refer back to the 544 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:10,240 the point that i posed to damon and 545 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:12,080 damon will uh rejoin us when he links 546 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:12,880 back up 547 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:14,720 and and this is the point about american 548 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:16,480 democracy having such an important 549 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:17,440 signaling 550 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,600 function around the world it's 551 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:21,440 reputationally vital 552 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,440 that american democracy is seen to be 553 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:24,720 healthy um 554 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:26,960 from the perspective of of croatia as a 555 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,440 former president 556 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:31,840 what do you believe the perception of 557 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:32,480 croats 558 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,440 is um of uh american democracy do they 559 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:36,880 look at the kind of things i described 560 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:37,440 and think 561 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:38,960 well the whole thing is is just falling 562 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:40,400 apart so they think well look this is 563 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:41,679 how democracy works 564 00:19:41,679 --> 00:19:44,720 i mean is america still seen as this 565 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,200 sort of shining light on a hill um or is 566 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:48,640 it seem to be tarnished 567 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,559 and people sort of think that well you 568 00:19:50,559 --> 00:19:51,919 know american democracy isn't what it 569 00:19:51,919 --> 00:19:53,120 used to be 570 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:54,799 well certainly there have been some 571 00:19:54,799 --> 00:19:56,960 setbacks and uh 572 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,360 you know we all have to face the fact 573 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:00,080 that uh 574 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,480 america has been the beacon of democracy 575 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:03,679 for all of us 576 00:20:03,679 --> 00:20:06,720 uh and an example and with the 577 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,919 developments uh uh last year it 578 00:20:09,919 --> 00:20:12,240 so it did tarnish a little bit about the 579 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:13,679 american reputation 580 00:20:13,679 --> 00:20:15,760 and i would say everyone else who 581 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:17,919 associates with the us 582 00:20:17,919 --> 00:20:20,960 as an example and an ally because 583 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:24,320 uh it sort of uh builds upon your own 584 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:25,600 reputation who 585 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,480 you associate with and a lot of people 586 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,240 actually asked me to compare the 587 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,000 situation in the us to the former 588 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:33,760 yugoslavia which is completely 589 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:34,640 incomparable 590 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,080 because former yugoslavia was an 591 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:39,360 authoritarian 592 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:42,080 state that fell apart for many different 593 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:42,799 reasons 594 00:20:42,799 --> 00:20:44,880 one of them being that people were not 595 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:46,880 able to express their freedoms 596 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,280 but the way that the u.s has handled the 597 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:50,559 situation has 598 00:20:50,559 --> 00:20:52,720 shown that they've recognized the 599 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:53,760 problems 600 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,000 that uh during the trump administration 601 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:57,360 they didn't serve 602 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:00,240 they didn't become a reality but they 603 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:00,559 just 604 00:21:00,559 --> 00:21:04,159 surfaced from something that was uh 605 00:21:04,159 --> 00:21:07,280 ignored by the elites i would say for 606 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:08,960 years and decades 607 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:10,880 and it was just a catalyst for the 608 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:12,159 problems to come out 609 00:21:12,159 --> 00:21:15,280 and to boil up on the surface 610 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,080 causing a number of events including uh 611 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:20,000 the public reaction 612 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:22,480 now uh we're all looking towards the u.s 613 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,640 how they will handle the situation 614 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:26,880 because uh the last election of course 615 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:28,559 president biden won 616 00:21:28,559 --> 00:21:30,480 but when you look at the numbers you 617 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:31,679 cannot just 618 00:21:31,679 --> 00:21:35,919 uh simply dismiss the 74.5 million 619 00:21:35,919 --> 00:21:36,720 people 620 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,240 who voted trump uh actually he got more 621 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:41,919 popular vote than in the 622 00:21:41,919 --> 00:21:44,720 first election that he won so you need 623 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,200 to engage them in a dialogue and this is 624 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,039 the responsibility of the so-called 625 00:21:49,039 --> 00:21:50,559 political elites 626 00:21:50,559 --> 00:21:53,600 trump's election in the first place was 627 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:56,720 uh in part due 628 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,280 to the fact that people were resisting 629 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,120 the political establishments and the 630 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,200 political elites for different reasons 631 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:04,240 that we can discuss 632 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:08,240 further but uh uh 633 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,919 the fact that uh we've seen rifts across 634 00:22:11,919 --> 00:22:12,880 societies 635 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,240 it uh imposes further obligations on 636 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:17,600 politicians 637 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:21,039 on uh leadership not to look 638 00:22:21,039 --> 00:22:24,559 uh at the outside environment as the 639 00:22:24,559 --> 00:22:26,320 cause of the grievances 640 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:29,120 or the cause of their problems but 641 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:30,400 really to look 642 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:32,960 inside and see what is wrong that we 643 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,039 have been doing for decades and for 644 00:22:35,039 --> 00:22:37,120 years in order to provoke not just 645 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:38,640 populist movements 646 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,120 but third options and alternative 647 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:42,640 movements because 648 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,080 not all of them uh are necessarily bad 649 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:47,919 for a certain country 650 00:22:47,919 --> 00:22:51,360 and to engage and to discuss those 651 00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:52,240 grievances 652 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,280 and try to mend the rifts across society 653 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:57,280 i think the president biden has taken a 654 00:22:57,280 --> 00:22:58,880 very wise approach 655 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,000 of uh after he won elections 656 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,840 and especially during his inaugural 657 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,679 speech he 658 00:23:05,679 --> 00:23:08,320 pointed out that america is a democracy 659 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,240 that has its deficiencies 660 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,799 it's not a perfect union but a goal is 661 00:23:12,799 --> 00:23:14,480 the more perfect union that it's a 662 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,000 healing process 663 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,720 and that they are able to overcome these 664 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:20,159 divides 665 00:23:20,159 --> 00:23:21,760 on this side of the atlantic of course 666 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,080 we have huge expectations the president 667 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:24,799 biden 668 00:23:24,799 --> 00:23:27,200 and of the us and i hope he will have 669 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,280 the time and the resources to truly 670 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,400 live up to them because we want to not 671 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,720 just restore the transatlantic 672 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,679 relationship but we want to restore the 673 00:23:37,679 --> 00:23:40,159 belief in democracy and democratic 674 00:23:40,159 --> 00:23:41,279 systems 675 00:23:41,279 --> 00:23:44,559 and we really do not uh serve 676 00:23:44,559 --> 00:23:47,600 our purpose as politicians or 677 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:51,600 as people who as leaders 678 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,679 if we try to uh first of all resist 679 00:23:55,679 --> 00:23:58,000 the fact that we need to change from the 680 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,080 ways that we were doing business before 681 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:00,640 because 682 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,760 the world has changed if we engage in a 683 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:05,120 blame shifting 684 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:07,919 game instead of uh looking at what we 685 00:24:07,919 --> 00:24:08,880 have done that was 686 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,200 wrong and that could be remedied and 687 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,600 especially in blaming the public for not 688 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,640 understanding or misinterpreting 689 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,080 our own actions or our own policies uh 690 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,200 additionally if we paint a picture 691 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,159 in our our own public appearances and in 692 00:24:26,159 --> 00:24:27,919 talking to the public 693 00:24:27,919 --> 00:24:30,559 that are is not realistic and that does 694 00:24:30,559 --> 00:24:33,200 not correspond to actual state of events 695 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,039 and the reality of situation 696 00:24:35,039 --> 00:24:38,400 in our own countries so we do 697 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,360 have to admit that yes there are 698 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:43,360 shortcomings there are challenges and 699 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:45,039 we're ready and we need to 700 00:24:45,039 --> 00:24:48,880 deal with these challenges additionally 701 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:49,200 you 702 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,679 see that a lot of people have started to 703 00:24:51,679 --> 00:24:52,960 resist these 704 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:56,240 traditional establishments and elites 705 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,840 simply because people are tired of uh 706 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,240 political dynasties or dynasties 707 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:06,640 um so whichever pronunciation you prefer 708 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:08,960 and if we promise better and equal 709 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:10,880 opportunities for all we 710 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,679 really have to live up to that and be 711 00:25:13,679 --> 00:25:15,520 inclusive rather than 712 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,960 exclusive and uh the fact that 713 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,600 again i mentioned changed the 714 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,360 information environment 715 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:26,400 has radically changed the way that we do 716 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,400 business both connective and 717 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:32,159 uh disruptive technologies not just 718 00:25:32,159 --> 00:25:35,200 in science and technology and what 719 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,080 pandemics has emphasized work the 720 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:39,600 workplace and school 721 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,320 but also politics and i don't think that 722 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:44,000 the traditional political elites are 723 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:45,120 prepared for that 724 00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:48,080 you know day-to-day public relations 725 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:48,799 business and 726 00:25:48,799 --> 00:25:52,640 issuing communiques is not going to 727 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:56,000 help things we truly need to 728 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,679 listen to what uh the 729 00:25:59,679 --> 00:26:02,640 so to say the other side although i'm 730 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:03,360 really 731 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:06,640 against that us and them division so 732 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:08,720 really to engage that other side address 733 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,320 those grievances 734 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,520 show that you care and work together 735 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,159 to try to find it to try to find a path 736 00:26:16,159 --> 00:26:18,000 forward and i think this is the 737 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,120 the best outcome for the us as well in 738 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:22,880 all of the problems that they have post 739 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:24,080 pandemic 740 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,080 not just health issues but economic 741 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,799 issues national reconciliation 742 00:26:28,799 --> 00:26:32,000 so to speak and the path forward 743 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,279 in how to engage those who were 744 00:26:34,279 --> 00:26:35,440 dissatisfied 745 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,640 and were isolated uh 746 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,440 two different shady platforms how to 747 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:42,480 integrate them 748 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,279 again in mainstream politics and make it 749 00:26:45,279 --> 00:26:47,360 a true functional dialogue 750 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:48,960 um calinda thanks you've provided a lot 751 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:50,640 of of of 752 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,480 perfectly uh and aptly provocative um 753 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:55,840 points which i will raise in the sort of 754 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:57,840 next round of question of what we do and 755 00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,679 what have we been doing wrong i wanted 756 00:26:59,679 --> 00:27:01,360 to bring back uh damon wilson her 757 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:03,039 technology intervened 758 00:27:03,039 --> 00:27:05,279 against us this time it's working in our 759 00:27:05,279 --> 00:27:07,520 favor generally uh today at least 760 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,240 um but damon we were talking about uh 761 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,240 the question of the restorative power of 762 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:13,919 american democracy and the 763 00:27:13,919 --> 00:27:16,240 the divides in society just before uh 764 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:17,279 you could have um 765 00:27:17,279 --> 00:27:19,360 perhaps just go back to where where you 766 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:20,960 were before we were interrupted and 767 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,520 continue on that theme of of american 768 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:25,120 health and strength 769 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:28,080 in the face of of obviously problems 770 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,880 that everybody's aware of 771 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,559 thank you robin we're working on both 772 00:27:32,559 --> 00:27:34,000 our democracy and sometimes 773 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:36,159 our technology apologies but good to be 774 00:27:36,159 --> 00:27:38,559 back you captured it with uh 775 00:27:38,559 --> 00:27:40,799 the word restorative the power of 776 00:27:40,799 --> 00:27:42,320 american democracy is that it's 777 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:43,760 self-correcting 778 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,000 we don't need russian propaganda or 779 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:47,840 chinese propaganda to point out the 780 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:49,840 shortcomings or fissures or failures of 781 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:51,360 american society 782 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:53,039 we're pretty good at that that's the 783 00:27:53,039 --> 00:27:54,640 story of our democracy 784 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,919 it's our history and so yes we can't be 785 00:27:57,919 --> 00:28:01,279 naive and paper over the the challenges 786 00:28:01,279 --> 00:28:02,320 to 787 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,720 american democracy and society today 788 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,039 it's because we face those challenges 789 00:28:07,039 --> 00:28:10,080 head on that our democracy is resilient 790 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,399 and it gives me a sense of optimism not 791 00:28:12,399 --> 00:28:13,600 naivete 792 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,000 but optimism about america american 793 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:16,880 democracy 794 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,200 going forward we started this 795 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,200 conversation about being responsive to 796 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,200 our publics and that is the fundamentals 797 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,720 of a democracy 798 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:26,880 and so in united states where we had a 799 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:28,320 great recession where 800 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:30,240 wall street recovered before main street 801 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,880 we saw exacerbated inequalities 802 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:34,880 particular racial inequalities coming 803 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:35,600 out of a 804 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,559 that that unequal slow recovery a real 805 00:28:38,559 --> 00:28:40,880 devastating impact on our manufacturing 806 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:41,679 base 807 00:28:41,679 --> 00:28:44,480 political gridlock and and concerning 808 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:46,399 the public about our in 809 00:28:46,399 --> 00:28:48,399 long-term military commitments in places 810 00:28:48,399 --> 00:28:50,480 like iraq and afghanistan 811 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,799 it produced a public backlash that said 812 00:28:52,799 --> 00:28:53,600 the elites 813 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:55,360 are failing us and we want something 814 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,240 different that's democracy that is a 815 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,000 public being responsive 816 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:01,600 and we've seen this through some 817 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:03,760 convulsions politically here 818 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,480 but that is the the way of a messy 819 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,200 process of working through these factors 820 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,080 and so uh if you think about it a little 821 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,080 bit with a historic perspective 822 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,000 i mean president eisenhower sent federal 823 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,320 troops into little rock arkansas when he 824 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:19,279 addressed the nation 825 00:29:19,279 --> 00:29:21,679 explaining why he was doing this to 826 00:29:21,679 --> 00:29:22,320 address 827 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,559 racial inequality and segregation at 828 00:29:24,559 --> 00:29:25,520 home 829 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:27,840 he really cited how could the united 830 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:29,440 states play a leadership role 831 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,480 in the free world on the world stage if 832 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:35,039 it can't live up to those values at home 833 00:29:35,039 --> 00:29:38,000 that story continues to unfold in a very 834 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:39,120 different way 835 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,440 but with some interesting parallels the 836 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:42,720 united states makes it through 837 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,200 the 68 protests the nixon impeachment 838 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,679 bellez 839 00:29:47,679 --> 00:29:49,840 and the carter administration with the 840 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:51,600 restorative process 841 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,720 and so it's not easy and it's not clean 842 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:56,240 but that's what's playing out right now 843 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:57,760 in the united states which gives 844 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,200 me a sense of optimism that renewal 845 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:03,039 at home in the united states renewal 846 00:30:03,039 --> 00:30:05,279 across democracies in the west 847 00:30:05,279 --> 00:30:07,440 is fundamentally tied to the topic of 848 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:09,039 this conversation 849 00:30:09,039 --> 00:30:11,120 showing that democracy can deliver for 850 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:13,679 its people and the great democracies 851 00:30:13,679 --> 00:30:15,600 i think is a key ingredient to be a 852 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,399 catalyst for the advance of democracy 853 00:30:18,399 --> 00:30:21,919 more globally damon i wonder i'm moving 854 00:30:21,919 --> 00:30:22,399 into this 855 00:30:22,399 --> 00:30:24,320 this question of what we actually do and 856 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:25,600 obviously we're going to do something 857 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:26,799 sensible we have to 858 00:30:26,799 --> 00:30:28,640 be aware of where the problems actually 859 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,520 lie uh you've mentioned certain events 860 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:33,919 uh and the way that elites responded to 861 00:30:33,919 --> 00:30:35,520 the events i mean we had the 862 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:37,440 uh we had the iraq war and we have the 863 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:39,520 question of weapons of mass destruction 864 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:41,760 in my opinion um pretty much every 865 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:42,799 discussion 866 00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:45,600 is sort of it sort of looms as a shadow 867 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:46,000 um 868 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,320 over uh the american public and i think 869 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,640 what happened then a few years later 870 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,760 in 2008 with the great recession um 871 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,960 when uh it was seen that a lot of people 872 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:58,320 suffered but not the people who'd 873 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:00,080 actually caused the problem um 874 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,799 banker's bonuses famously continued for 875 00:31:02,799 --> 00:31:04,240 many years very few people there were a 876 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:05,519 couple of full guys 877 00:31:05,519 --> 00:31:07,120 uh but very few people actually lost 878 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:08,799 their jobs um 879 00:31:08,799 --> 00:31:10,720 i'm wondering to what extent i mean 880 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,080 there is this restorative power of 881 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:13,679 american democracy and democracy 882 00:31:13,679 --> 00:31:14,480 generally 883 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,159 but to what extent are the problems you 884 00:31:16,159 --> 00:31:17,919 know deeper than that that are actually 885 00:31:17,919 --> 00:31:18,799 structural 886 00:31:18,799 --> 00:31:21,120 i mean the united states famously is 887 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:21,919 constructed 888 00:31:21,919 --> 00:31:24,640 uh through a constitution in the 18th 889 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:25,519 century 890 00:31:25,519 --> 00:31:26,880 it was against the backdrop of 891 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:28,559 technological and social 892 00:31:28,559 --> 00:31:30,399 realities which prevailed in the 18th 893 00:31:30,399 --> 00:31:32,640 century not the 21st century 894 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,720 is there any sense in which american 895 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,960 democracy is actually outdated 896 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,360 and in in order to really move forward 897 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,360 there's going to have to be a massive 898 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:46,720 new rethink of how democracy is done 899 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,200 look uh i think american institutions 900 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:51,039 the constitution the institutions that 901 00:31:51,039 --> 00:31:52,960 flow from it the checks and balances has 902 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:54,320 been one of the great 903 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,000 uh power one of the great under 904 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:57,440 infrastructures that has led to 905 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,960 america's success in america's power 906 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:02,240 i think part of what we've been 907 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:04,799 grappling with is how that system has 908 00:32:04,799 --> 00:32:06,080 been 909 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,559 driven by money and politics towards 910 00:32:08,559 --> 00:32:10,720 more political polarization 911 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,760 and incentives behind blockage obstacles 912 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:14,799 gridlock 913 00:32:14,799 --> 00:32:16,240 and so that's where we see a fervent 914 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:18,480 debate today and we're responding 915 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:20,480 the expansion of ranked choice of choice 916 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,960 voting across the united states 917 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,679 the increasing presence of nonpartisan 918 00:32:25,679 --> 00:32:26,720 primaries 919 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:28,240 and yet it still is faced with the 920 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,240 counter winds of money and politics and 921 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:31,760 gerrymandering of districts 922 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,399 but we're working through that are there 923 00:32:34,399 --> 00:32:36,240 structural challenges of course there 924 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,320 are but that's been part of our history 925 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:38,960 here 926 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:41,519 it doesn't mean that we have a wholesale 927 00:32:41,519 --> 00:32:42,240 default 928 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,159 problem of our our democracy that we 929 00:32:44,159 --> 00:32:45,679 need to turn our back on 930 00:32:45,679 --> 00:32:47,120 it means we need to be committed to the 931 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:49,600 relentless process of helping to 932 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:51,440 improve it make it more effective and 933 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,840 adapt it for modern circumstances 934 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:55,679 and that's what we see move forward and 935 00:32:55,679 --> 00:32:57,360 two steps forward one step back 936 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,919 fits and starts political balance but 937 00:32:59,919 --> 00:33:00,720 i'm not 938 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:02,720 overly concerned that we've got a 939 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:04,480 structural dysfunction that takes the 940 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:06,159 united states out of the game 941 00:33:06,159 --> 00:33:09,200 we're coming out of this pandemic 942 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,360 vaccinating our population opening the 943 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:12,320 economy 944 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,799 unprecedented rates of of economic 945 00:33:14,799 --> 00:33:15,919 growth 946 00:33:15,919 --> 00:33:17,919 and one of the healthiest debates on 947 00:33:17,919 --> 00:33:19,760 racial inequality that we've had that is 948 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:22,559 going to lead to change in progress 949 00:33:22,559 --> 00:33:24,799 an unprecedented historic investments in 950 00:33:24,799 --> 00:33:26,559 structural issues around 951 00:33:26,559 --> 00:33:29,039 infrastructure around our democracy it 952 00:33:29,039 --> 00:33:30,000 won't be linear 953 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,399 it won't be clean but the concept of 954 00:33:32,399 --> 00:33:33,840 renewal at home 955 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,960 fueling a way to to renew democratic 956 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:38,080 leadership on the world 957 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:40,480 stage that's a direct connection between 958 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:42,480 what's happening domestically here 959 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,919 and internationally on the world stage 960 00:33:45,919 --> 00:33:49,600 um uh neelam in india you didn't 961 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:51,760 you don't quite have the the history of 962 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:54,000 the united states of uh of what two 963 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,840 almost two and a half centuries now of 964 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,159 constitutional democracy but i mean 965 00:33:58,159 --> 00:34:00,240 india is a very imp it's incredible i 966 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:01,679 think to many people that 967 00:34:01,679 --> 00:34:03,600 indian democracy functions as well as it 968 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,000 does given how diverse a society and how 969 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:09,119 enormous the society is 970 00:34:09,119 --> 00:34:11,359 is there a conversation going on in 971 00:34:11,359 --> 00:34:12,320 india 972 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,599 about renewal and and 973 00:34:15,599 --> 00:34:17,440 in fact structural change of the way 974 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:19,359 democracy is done my sense is that 975 00:34:19,359 --> 00:34:21,760 is that what damon said is actually true 976 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:23,440 of most democracies there isn't 977 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:24,800 amongst the elites there isn't really a 978 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:26,639 conversation about actually 979 00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:28,800 changing the way democracy is done for 980 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:30,000 example 981 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:31,679 really integrating the digital 982 00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:33,520 revolution into the decision-making 983 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:34,000 process 984 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,918 everybody's interested in communication 985 00:34:35,918 --> 00:34:37,520 through the digital revolution but 986 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:39,040 there aren't many people around talking 987 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:41,280 about you know a sort of digital 988 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,599 national assembly or something like that 989 00:34:43,599 --> 00:34:46,480 where is the debate in india about 990 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:49,280 how democracy actually can or should or 991 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:50,399 maybe should not 992 00:34:50,399 --> 00:34:53,118 uh develop 993 00:34:54,079 --> 00:34:56,320 so i would say there's not much of a 994 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:58,720 conversation 995 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:00,560 because people are really shouting at 996 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,040 each other's so the ones who don't like 997 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,359 the way things are going 998 00:35:05,359 --> 00:35:08,240 finding fault with everything and then 999 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:10,160 there are those who think 1000 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,359 this is great i think 1001 00:35:13,359 --> 00:35:15,520 i would say that damon is probably right 1002 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,200 in terms of saying that 1003 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,200 at this moment the united states is 1004 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:20,400 having the most 1005 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,440 interesting conversation about race but 1006 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:25,040 i would have to say that 1007 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,599 after 400 years if they are still having 1008 00:35:27,599 --> 00:35:28,880 a conversation 1009 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,440 and the situation relating to race it's 1010 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:32,560 discouraging 1011 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:34,960 just like in india it's very 1012 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:36,240 discouraging 1013 00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:39,280 that we have not been able to move 1014 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:42,480 ahead on caste related issues 1015 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,520 and caste has become a big factor of 1016 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,280 political mobilization 1017 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:50,160 similarly religion which was not a 1018 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:50,960 factor 1019 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,680 for political mobilization in india has 1020 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:55,359 become a really deep 1021 00:35:55,359 --> 00:35:58,079 fissure now maybe because we didn't 1022 00:35:58,079 --> 00:35:59,359 discuss it 1023 00:35:59,359 --> 00:36:01,440 and we wanted to bury the fact that the 1024 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:03,040 partition of the country 1025 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,680 was based on religion and for many years 1026 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:07,760 nobody wanted to talk about it 1027 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:09,839 i mean my parents are refugees from what 1028 00:36:09,839 --> 00:36:11,359 is now pakistan 1029 00:36:11,359 --> 00:36:14,720 and my family never wanted to discuss 1030 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:17,280 the partition why it happened how it 1031 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:18,400 happened 1032 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:22,480 what what kind of deep trauma 1033 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,520 was inflicted on various people so 1034 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:29,359 i'd say we are all at different spaces 1035 00:36:29,359 --> 00:36:31,839 whether it the united states or eastern 1036 00:36:31,839 --> 00:36:32,640 europe 1037 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,680 or wherever and it's very important to 1038 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:36,480 recognize 1039 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:39,520 these massive differences and not 1040 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,800 try and comprehend democracy as if there 1041 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:43,520 were 1042 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:46,800 a one size that fits all we are at 1043 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:48,240 different stages of 1044 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:52,000 economic prosperity of race relations 1045 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,680 of religious uh strife in fact 1046 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,280 or you know so in india we are actually 1047 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:00,400 not having 1048 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,760 a very uh reasoned 1049 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:05,760 fundamental conversation because we're 1050 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:07,920 still at the stage of shouting at each 1051 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:08,560 other 1052 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:11,119 and i'm actually beginning to wonder 1053 00:37:11,119 --> 00:37:13,119 whether we need to continue 1054 00:37:13,119 --> 00:37:17,359 to deify the people where 1055 00:37:17,359 --> 00:37:19,920 democracies are now talking about the 1056 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:20,720 people 1057 00:37:20,720 --> 00:37:23,760 in the same way as the marxists used to 1058 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:25,839 and you will all remember that it was 1059 00:37:25,839 --> 00:37:26,800 said that you know 1060 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,760 marxism likes the people it just doesn't 1061 00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:30,160 like 1062 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,280 you so i think we need to understand 1063 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,640 why is it that a majority of people in 1064 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:38,960 all our countries are voting the way 1065 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:39,920 they do 1066 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:43,359 and the voting mostly i would say 1067 00:37:43,359 --> 00:37:46,160 even with all the challenges gives us 1068 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:47,920 the results that it would 1069 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,040 even if there are issues here and there 1070 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:53,760 why is it that people vote the way they 1071 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:54,640 do 1072 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:58,240 what is it that is it's not just a case 1073 00:37:58,240 --> 00:37:59,200 of saying that 1074 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,440 we have to talk to the people the people 1075 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,200 don't want to talk to you 1076 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:06,720 is the situation at the moment 1077 00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:08,720 i'm said and i think we all agree that 1078 00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:10,720 the the fate of american democracy is 1079 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:11,920 vital to the whole 1080 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:13,920 democratic project across the world but 1081 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,079 india is also vital to that project i 1082 00:38:16,079 --> 00:38:17,359 mean 1083 00:38:17,359 --> 00:38:18,800 partly because it's the largest single 1084 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:20,320 democracy and also it shows that 1085 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:21,760 democracy can be done in a 1086 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:25,280 very diverse society um it's also the 1087 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:26,880 case of course that in asia there is a 1088 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:27,920 competing 1089 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,040 uh rival system for development 1090 00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:35,040 uh namely by communist china um ivan 1091 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,079 i wonder how important you think that 1092 00:38:38,079 --> 00:38:39,760 the development success 1093 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:43,119 failures of indian democracy are to the 1094 00:38:43,119 --> 00:38:44,400 wider question 1095 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:47,280 of how democracy is perceived in the 1096 00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:49,920 world today 1097 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,400 so let's be very frank i don't believe 1098 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:54,480 that the fate of indian democracy is 1099 00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:56,000 what is going to shape 1100 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,839 the opinion of bulgarian voters about 1101 00:38:58,839 --> 00:39:01,200 democracy india is extremely important 1102 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,119 in the geopolitical context but people 1103 00:39:03,119 --> 00:39:04,560 are much more local and 1104 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,200 provincial and no basically democracy 1105 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:07,839 that they know 1106 00:39:07,839 --> 00:39:10,079 united states is different because of 1107 00:39:10,079 --> 00:39:11,839 the fact that basically 1108 00:39:11,839 --> 00:39:13,440 everybody particularly in central and 1109 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:15,200 eastern europe for when they talk about 1110 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:16,880 democracy was imagining the united 1111 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:17,520 states 1112 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:18,880 and the biggest thing that happened in 1113 00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:20,560 the united states honestly speaking 1114 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:22,960 is contesting the election results it's 1115 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:24,240 not how people 1116 00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:26,640 are voting this in democracy is very 1117 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:28,480 important how parties are losing 1118 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,480 elections 1119 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,119 but while india is very important on one 1120 00:39:33,119 --> 00:39:34,640 theoretical level 1121 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:36,240 listen people look the world that they 1122 00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:37,839 know 1123 00:39:37,839 --> 00:39:39,680 and of course knowing that india is a 1124 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:41,920 democracy is very important but i don't 1125 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:43,040 believe this is shaping 1126 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:47,040 uh bulgarian voters also i do believe 1127 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,200 that strangely enough we try to believe 1128 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:51,040 that if there is a crisis of democracy 1129 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,000 this is the same crisis 1130 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:55,680 and listen you can be in a crisis for 1131 00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:57,520 different reasons based on different 1132 00:39:57,520 --> 00:39:59,359 experiences 1133 00:39:59,359 --> 00:40:00,960 and for me there are two things talking 1134 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:03,040 about what is happening and not 1135 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:04,160 happening that probably 1136 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:05,680 important and we are not talking a lot 1137 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:08,400 about our societies particularly in 1138 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:10,079 europe are going to go through a major 1139 00:40:10,079 --> 00:40:13,359 demographic change and 1140 00:40:13,359 --> 00:40:14,400 we don't know how to talk about 1141 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:15,839 demography from this point of view 1142 00:40:15,839 --> 00:40:18,079 pandemic was critically important 1143 00:40:18,079 --> 00:40:19,839 i'm going to give you south korean 1144 00:40:19,839 --> 00:40:21,920 numbers in other not just to stay east 1145 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:22,880 european 1146 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:24,720 to tell you what is going to happen in 1147 00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:26,720 the next 30 40 years if we basically 1148 00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:27,599 trust 1149 00:40:27,599 --> 00:40:30,720 demographers so in 30 years 1150 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:32,880 the population of south korea when a 1151 00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:34,880 very well functioning and prosperous 1152 00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:36,240 asian democracy 1153 00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:38,720 is going to lose half of it population 1154 00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:40,319 because basically they have less than 1155 00:40:40,319 --> 00:40:41,119 one 1156 00:40:41,119 --> 00:40:45,200 uh child per woman 40 1157 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:48,800 of people in south korea today live 1158 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:52,240 in a single household you have basically 1159 00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:54,160 the new generation which have a totally 1160 00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:55,680 different experience and i'm saying this 1161 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:57,440 not because it's good or bad 1162 00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:59,359 but because this is changing incredibly 1163 00:40:59,359 --> 00:41:01,440 the way all these functions 1164 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:03,520 imagine that in 30 years in bulgaria 1165 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:05,119 most probably 1166 00:41:05,119 --> 00:41:06,880 30 percent of the people on the labor 1167 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:09,359 market are not going to have a voting 1168 00:41:09,359 --> 00:41:09,920 rights 1169 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:11,280 because they're not going to be 1170 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:13,040 bulgarian citizens 1171 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,359 at the same time probably 15 of the 1172 00:41:15,359 --> 00:41:17,119 bulgarian citizens are going to live out 1173 00:41:17,119 --> 00:41:18,160 of the country 1174 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:19,599 so they're going to vote but they're not 1175 00:41:19,599 --> 00:41:21,760 going to pay taxes in the country 1176 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:23,839 and 40 of the voters are going to be on 1177 00:41:23,839 --> 00:41:25,200 the retirement age 1178 00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:27,839 at this very moment 40 percent of people 1179 00:41:27,839 --> 00:41:29,599 living in vienna 1180 00:41:29,599 --> 00:41:32,560 could not vote on the votes for the 1181 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:33,520 mayor 1182 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:35,760 of vienna it's not that we don't have a 1183 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:37,200 political rights i have my political 1184 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:39,040 rights in bulgaria i'm voting there 1185 00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:40,640 but you're living in vienna most of the 1186 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:42,640 time and from this point of view this 1187 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:43,440 changes 1188 00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:45,839 is totally changing the way democracy 1189 00:41:45,839 --> 00:41:46,960 functions 1190 00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:48,960 and i do believe we should be very much 1191 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:50,480 open to this kind of a 1192 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:54,560 bigger trend aging of the population 1193 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:57,680 a major divorce between the labor market 1194 00:41:57,680 --> 00:41:58,960 and body politics 1195 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:00,640 because it is not true that eastern 1196 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:02,480 europe is close to foreigners 1197 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:04,319 do you know which was the european union 1198 00:42:04,319 --> 00:42:06,560 member states that got most labour 1199 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:07,359 immigrants 1200 00:42:07,359 --> 00:42:08,560 for the last three years before 1201 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,680 immigration poland 1202 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:14,560 so all these trends are there but when 1203 00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,000 we talk about democracy we 1204 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:17,760 try to imagine that it is going to look 1205 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,240 like as if before the crisis 1206 00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:22,079 in the way our economy is not going to 1207 00:42:22,079 --> 00:42:23,599 look the same 1208 00:42:23,599 --> 00:42:25,440 you cannot simply forget that digital 1209 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:28,000 things happened our democratic societies 1210 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:28,880 are changing 1211 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:30,960 and i'm going to end up on this one of 1212 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:32,319 the biggest problem that i see 1213 00:42:32,319 --> 00:42:33,760 particularly for central and eastern 1214 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:34,319 europe 1215 00:42:34,319 --> 00:42:36,000 is a major generational divide that is 1216 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:37,680 open as a result of it 1217 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,640 younger generation is a small cohort 1218 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:43,200 they don't have the numbers 1219 00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:45,040 and people don't like to play games in 1220 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,520 which they cannot win 1221 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:49,359 if you're a young person and basically 1222 00:42:49,359 --> 00:42:50,800 you want to go for change in your 1223 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:52,880 country you have two options 1224 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:54,640 one is to go through change through the 1225 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:56,480 ballot boxes 1226 00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:58,160 if this is not happened either you're 1227 00:42:58,160 --> 00:42:59,760 going to stay on the street most of the 1228 00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:01,520 time basically try to show 1229 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:02,960 that what is important for him should 1230 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:04,560 happen or you're going to leave the 1231 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:05,520 country 1232 00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:07,359 and believe me leaving the country is 1233 00:43:07,359 --> 00:43:09,040 much easier than the two previous 1234 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:10,079 options 1235 00:43:10,079 --> 00:43:11,920 so from this point of view i do believe 1236 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:13,839 probably we should think about 1237 00:43:13,839 --> 00:43:16,960 reducing uh the voting age we should try 1238 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:17,839 to see how 1239 00:43:17,839 --> 00:43:20,800 this major generation of these balances 1240 00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:22,960 are going to be taken with 1241 00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:26,000 because uh the last point 1242 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:28,319 of facts and type of appalling facts is 1243 00:43:28,319 --> 00:43:29,119 that 1244 00:43:29,119 --> 00:43:31,839 if you try to see the results of the 1245 00:43:31,839 --> 00:43:33,599 cambridge university 1246 00:43:33,599 --> 00:43:35,119 institute for the future of democracy 1247 00:43:35,119 --> 00:43:37,119 which was done in 2020 1248 00:43:37,119 --> 00:43:40,240 the younger people in the world 1249 00:43:40,240 --> 00:43:42,079 are the one most dissatisfied with the 1250 00:43:42,079 --> 00:43:43,680 performance of democracy 1251 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:45,359 and millennials are much more 1252 00:43:45,359 --> 00:43:47,280 dissatisfied than the previous 1253 00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:49,200 generations on the same age 1254 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:50,800 so from this point of view there is a 1255 00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:53,200 big use problem but not simply in terms 1256 00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:54,240 of the economy 1257 00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:55,599 but on the terms of political 1258 00:43:55,599 --> 00:43:57,760 representation and this is a very 1259 00:43:57,760 --> 00:43:58,880 distinctive generation 1260 00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:00,800 listen they have been born in a digital 1261 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:02,400 world they experience the world 1262 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:03,760 differently than us 1263 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:05,520 so trying to empower the younger 1264 00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:07,200 generation politically in my view is one 1265 00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,640 of the major things that should happen 1266 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:12,240 i think that this discussion is is 1267 00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:13,280 immensely rich and it's 1268 00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:15,280 multi-dimensional i think we we've got 1269 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:16,960 sort of seven minutes left or so 1270 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:19,040 um i think we need to to introduce 1271 00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:20,880 another really big dimension to this 1272 00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:22,640 discussion i mean i remember 1273 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:25,440 i'm a child of the 1980s uh in the sense 1274 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:27,760 i wasn't born in the 1980s unfortunately 1275 00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:29,359 but i achieved my sort of political 1276 00:44:29,359 --> 00:44:31,599 maturity in in the 1980s and 1277 00:44:31,599 --> 00:44:33,839 the tail end of the cold war and one of 1278 00:44:33,839 --> 00:44:35,599 the arguments that you will hear 1279 00:44:35,599 --> 00:44:38,560 in this discussion as to why populations 1280 00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:41,200 in established democracies have kind of 1281 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:43,520 lost a certain amount of faith is 1282 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:44,480 because unlike 1283 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:46,800 the generation i'm talking about the 1284 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:48,319 millennials prior to 1285 00:44:48,319 --> 00:44:50,319 to the millennials um people grew up 1286 00:44:50,319 --> 00:44:51,359 with a very 1287 00:44:51,359 --> 00:44:54,000 clear alternative you knew that there 1288 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,160 was this totalitarian empire 1289 00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:58,079 and you knew it was very unpleasant to 1290 00:44:58,079 --> 00:44:59,280 live there if you 1291 00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:00,960 wanted to hold different opinions or if 1292 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:03,040 you wouldn't simply follow 1293 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:05,760 the ideology of a totalitarian system 1294 00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:07,760 and then that kind of disappeared 1295 00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:10,560 um through the 90s and 2000s and there 1296 00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:11,280 was really no 1297 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:12,960 you know there was only one way to look 1298 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:14,560 about democracy really and it was 1299 00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:15,280 inwards 1300 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:16,880 and people because it's in the nature of 1301 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:18,400 democracy to be critical 1302 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:21,280 became self-critical and perhaps perhaps 1303 00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:21,760 went 1304 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,920 to too much in that direction and failed 1305 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:25,920 to recognize the value of what they had 1306 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,880 but now of course um we do have a major 1307 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:32,720 neo-authoritarian rival in the in in in 1308 00:45:32,720 --> 00:45:34,000 the form of china 1309 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:36,000 i wonder kalinda whether you believe 1310 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:37,920 that not that anyone would wish it to 1311 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:38,560 happen 1312 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:41,040 but given that there is this colossus 1313 00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:42,319 out there in 1314 00:45:42,319 --> 00:45:44,480 in asia which has a very different way 1315 00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:46,800 of of running a society 1316 00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:48,960 is that a kind of you know a sort of 1317 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,520 load star it makes actual unity 1318 00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,160 and a renewed sense of the value of what 1319 00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:55,040 we have 1320 00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:58,880 easier to sell to our populations 1321 00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:02,319 well when we look at our own region um 1322 00:46:02,319 --> 00:46:05,040 people don't perceive china as much of a 1323 00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:05,599 factor 1324 00:46:05,599 --> 00:46:08,640 in terms of an example uh whether we 1325 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:09,839 talk about 1326 00:46:09,839 --> 00:46:14,000 the system uh or democracy they 1327 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:17,200 just perceive china as this huge country 1328 00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:17,599 who 1329 00:46:17,599 --> 00:46:21,040 is becoming a player on world stage and 1330 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:23,200 uh there is desire i think on part of 1331 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:25,040 the population to make that 1332 00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:27,680 uh relationship you know in terms of 1333 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:28,720 cooperation 1334 00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:31,440 competition confrontation that is put in 1335 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:32,640 the context of 1336 00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:34,960 the relationship with china towards more 1337 00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:36,400 cooperation and 1338 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:38,960 of course people want security in their 1339 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:40,960 life and stability and this is why 1340 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,040 when you look at the polling results 1341 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,040 that we saw earlier 1342 00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:48,079 that the most trusted institutions uh 1343 00:46:48,079 --> 00:46:51,839 are the armed forces the security forces 1344 00:46:51,839 --> 00:46:54,720 and uh partially the reason why we're 1345 00:46:54,720 --> 00:46:56,240 seeing all of these uh 1346 00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:58,319 developments is the sense of loss of 1347 00:46:58,319 --> 00:46:59,680 control which always 1348 00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:03,280 provokes fear and then there is tendency 1349 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:05,280 in some countries to look at 1350 00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:08,319 an autocratic form of government as 1351 00:47:08,319 --> 00:47:08,880 being 1352 00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:12,160 uh more efficient in dealing with the 1353 00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:13,920 current problems because they 1354 00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:17,760 don't have uh the requirement of going 1355 00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:19,359 through sometimes a lengthy 1356 00:47:19,359 --> 00:47:22,240 parliamentary procedure process etc 1357 00:47:22,240 --> 00:47:24,640 and of course most people want to see 1358 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:26,160 their problems sold 1359 00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:28,559 overnight they everybody wants a better 1360 00:47:28,559 --> 00:47:29,520 life 1361 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:31,760 and in thinking about that they're also 1362 00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:33,839 questioning the value of democracy which 1363 00:47:33,839 --> 00:47:35,520 we cannot ascribe to 1364 00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:38,880 any uh geopolitical or geographical 1365 00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:40,640 regions of talking about western 1366 00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:43,440 democracy or indian democracy etc 1367 00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:45,839 we have these common and universal 1368 00:47:45,839 --> 00:47:48,400 democratic values that need to be 1369 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:52,160 upheld but why our population 1370 00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,400 you know why are people losing trust in 1371 00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:56,240 government and institutions 1372 00:47:56,240 --> 00:48:00,079 uh in general it's uh the fact that 1373 00:48:00,079 --> 00:48:02,079 as i said they want to see change 1374 00:48:02,079 --> 00:48:03,520 overnight in particular 1375 00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:06,160 in central and eastern europe i think 1376 00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:08,480 we're still not happy with the level 1377 00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:10,640 of convergence that we have achieved 1378 00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:13,280 with the rest of the european union 1379 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:15,680 so the efficiency of the governments is 1380 00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:16,640 questioned 1381 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:20,319 in terms of not just democratic reform 1382 00:48:20,319 --> 00:48:22,720 but also being able to 1383 00:48:22,720 --> 00:48:25,040 implement the funding from the eu 1384 00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:26,559 building infrastructure 1385 00:48:26,559 --> 00:48:29,839 and really providing for circumstances 1386 00:48:29,839 --> 00:48:32,000 for people to change 1387 00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:34,880 ivan has mentioned demographic shifts 1388 00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:35,280 and 1389 00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:38,319 they are really quite worrisome in most 1390 00:48:38,319 --> 00:48:39,200 of our countries 1391 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:41,040 people young people are leaving 1392 00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:42,960 countries not just for the lack of 1393 00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:44,800 opportunities but 1394 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:47,920 also for disappointment that they feel 1395 00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:49,359 in the system 1396 00:48:49,359 --> 00:48:51,839 and one of the reasons being that we 1397 00:48:51,839 --> 00:48:53,040 still have not 1398 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:56,640 dealt with corruption in an appropriate 1399 00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:57,040 way 1400 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:00,559 we think tend to single out 1401 00:49:00,559 --> 00:49:03,200 some cases and focus on them but i 1402 00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:03,760 haven't 1403 00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:06,960 seen really a systematic attempt to 1404 00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:09,359 deal with corruption at all levels in 1405 00:49:09,359 --> 00:49:10,400 our societies 1406 00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:13,839 and secondly it's nepotism i asked a lot 1407 00:49:13,839 --> 00:49:15,599 of young people around the world 1408 00:49:15,599 --> 00:49:17,920 who come from croatia you know would you 1409 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:19,760 return to croatia and they say 1410 00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:23,440 yes we would and we would ex 1411 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:26,640 accept even a smaller salary 1412 00:49:26,640 --> 00:49:29,200 and a lower standard of living that we 1413 00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:30,319 get in some 1414 00:49:30,319 --> 00:49:32,400 other countries but the problem is that 1415 00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:34,000 we know 1416 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:37,440 that we will not get an equal chance an 1417 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:40,480 equal equal opportunity to compete for a 1418 00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:41,040 job 1419 00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:43,599 that nepotism is still there that there 1420 00:49:43,599 --> 00:49:46,079 are some people who are pre-ordained for 1421 00:49:46,079 --> 00:49:46,800 certain 1422 00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:48,880 functions so that's the problem of the 1423 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:50,720 elites that they feel they have the 1424 00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:52,400 inherent right to power 1425 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:54,400 yes and i think that this is a problem i 1426 00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:55,599 mean actually i spoke to francis 1427 00:49:55,599 --> 00:49:56,800 fukayama yesterday 1428 00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,760 yeah um on a panel and he um he he's 1429 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:01,520 also referred to the sense of a gilded 1430 00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:02,720 insider class 1431 00:50:02,720 --> 00:50:04,480 which is very dangerous for democracy as 1432 00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:06,240 you say because it's very dangerous 1433 00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:07,760 that there is no way that they can make 1434 00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:10,000 it through then this is where they start 1435 00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:10,480 sort of 1436 00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:12,480 gestating on the ideas and feeling and 1437 00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:13,599 looking inwards we 1438 00:50:13,599 --> 00:50:15,280 literally have what well we have less 1439 00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:16,559 than one minute left we have but i'm 1440 00:50:16,559 --> 00:50:17,760 going to live we're going to 1441 00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:19,760 expand for just one minute and to ask 1442 00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:21,440 everybody very briefly i wish this 1443 00:50:21,440 --> 00:50:22,640 conversation could have gone on for two 1444 00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:23,280 hours 1445 00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:26,480 um do you expect in in a yes or no 1446 00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:28,400 answer which you can extend for 1447 00:50:28,400 --> 00:50:30,960 15 seconds i'll start with uh with 1448 00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:31,680 neelam 1449 00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:34,800 um do you expect that by mid-century 1450 00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:37,760 um democracy will be in a healthier or 1451 00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:39,680 less healthy state 1452 00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:41,040 globally that is and you can talk about 1453 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:43,040 your own country than it is today in 15 1454 00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:45,839 seconds neil um 1455 00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:48,400 so i think it can be in a healthier 1456 00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:49,040 state 1457 00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:51,599 if we are willing to look inwards and 1458 00:50:51,599 --> 00:50:52,880 examine some of 1459 00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:56,160 our prejudices and to be 1460 00:50:56,160 --> 00:51:00,160 able to concentrate our energies 1461 00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:03,280 on addressing problems in 1462 00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:06,720 small bits you know in india we remember 1463 00:51:06,720 --> 00:51:09,040 always that gandhi had propagated 1464 00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:10,400 village republics 1465 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,040 because the macro system has failed us 1466 00:51:13,040 --> 00:51:14,960 the u.n security council is neither 1467 00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:16,160 representative 1468 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:19,440 nor does it function it could not meet 1469 00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:23,280 for the current pandemic yes it can be 1470 00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:25,520 better well neelam you'd like i did a 1471 00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:27,200 handbook for democracies about china 1472 00:51:27,200 --> 00:51:28,640 versus democracy and i 1473 00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:30,160 recommended that india should be a 1474 00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:31,599 permanent member of the security council 1475 00:51:31,599 --> 00:51:33,040 so we're friends i guess 1476 00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:36,800 um damon um again in 15 seconds do you 1477 00:51:36,800 --> 00:51:38,800 believe that by mid-century democracy 1478 00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:40,319 globally and in the united states will 1479 00:51:40,319 --> 00:51:42,000 be healthier or less healthy than it is 1480 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:44,240 today 1481 00:51:44,240 --> 00:51:46,240 i do believe it will be healthier we are 1482 00:51:46,240 --> 00:51:48,880 going through a wrenching process of 1483 00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:50,640 self-correction which is essentially 1484 00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:51,839 renewal 1485 00:51:51,839 --> 00:51:54,079 and part of the part of what that can do 1486 00:51:54,079 --> 00:51:56,319 is catalyze renewal at home so that we 1487 00:51:56,319 --> 00:51:58,240 can work together as a free world to 1488 00:51:58,240 --> 00:52:00,880 end this democratic recession 15 years 1489 00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:02,559 of democratic recession 1490 00:52:02,559 --> 00:52:04,880 an opportunity to turn the tables on the 1491 00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:06,400 authoritarian march 1492 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:09,040 and to catalyze a new democratic wave 1493 00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:09,920 but we start 1494 00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:11,920 by showing that democracy delivers at 1495 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:14,800 home we show that the free society's 1496 00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:16,640 free world can work together to counter 1497 00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:18,000 the authoritarians 1498 00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:19,599 and we've got to stand together in 1499 00:52:19,599 --> 00:52:21,839 supporting those small d democrats 1500 00:52:21,839 --> 00:52:23,920 on the front lines of freedom and that's 1501 00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:26,480 a strategy for optimism for renewal 1502 00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:29,119 for democracy being in a better place in 1503 00:52:29,119 --> 00:52:29,760 mid 1504 00:52:29,760 --> 00:52:31,760 mid century well i'm great that you'll 1505 00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:33,119 be bringing that to that message and 1506 00:52:33,119 --> 00:52:34,240 that way of looking the world to the 1507 00:52:34,240 --> 00:52:35,760 national endowment for democracy which 1508 00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:37,440 is an immensely important 1509 00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:39,280 institution and congratulations again on 1510 00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:42,160 the new job ivan uh our bulgarians are 1511 00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:43,920 notoriously quite pessimistic people 1512 00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:45,440 aren't they so are you going to 1513 00:52:45,440 --> 00:52:47,520 be fulfilled the national stereotype are 1514 00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:49,200 you also going to be optimistic about 1515 00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:51,280 prospects for democracy by mid-century 1516 00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:52,319 listen it's going 1517 00:52:52,319 --> 00:52:54,319 to be better in some places and worse 1518 00:52:54,319 --> 00:52:55,599 than others 1519 00:52:55,599 --> 00:52:58,480 okay that's hedging the bets kalinda oh 1520 00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:00,079 i'm an absolute believer 1521 00:53:00,079 --> 00:53:02,960 in democracy to me there is no 1522 00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:05,119 alternative and i think that most people 1523 00:53:05,119 --> 00:53:06,960 want democracy and the benefits of 1524 00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:08,160 democracy but we 1525 00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:11,200 have to be willing and able 1526 00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:13,599 uh to adapt to the changing 1527 00:53:13,599 --> 00:53:15,359 circumstances in the world 1528 00:53:15,359 --> 00:53:18,720 and react to that um and be 1529 00:53:18,720 --> 00:53:21,839 proactive rather just then 1530 00:53:21,839 --> 00:53:26,000 trying to justify what we have done with 1531 00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:28,559 the again as i said painting the reality 1532 00:53:28,559 --> 00:53:30,160 that is different from what people 1533 00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:32,800 feel i'm taking this as an optimistic 1534 00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:34,559 way to end uh the panel and i'd like to 1535 00:53:34,559 --> 00:53:35,040 thank 1536 00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:36,640 everybody for joining us whether 1537 00:53:36,640 --> 00:53:38,240 remotely in the audience and most 1538 00:53:38,240 --> 00:53:39,119 particularly 1539 00:53:39,119 --> 00:53:41,440 uh to the four members of the panel for 1540 00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:43,359 for making such a great discussion in 1541 00:53:43,359 --> 00:53:44,960 such a short period of time please join 1542 00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:47,040 me in thanking our panelists 1543 00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:49,520 thank you 1544 00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:56,970 and uh 1545 00:53:56,970 --> 00:54:02,629 [Music]