28 Feb Trump’s embrace of Modi spells trouble for democracy – the Article

Flora Holmes, Researcher for the British Foreign Policy Group, wrote for opinion site the Article as US President Donald Trump met with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Flora argued that Trump’s embrace of the strong man Prime Minister spelled trouble for democracy across the world. According to Flora, Trump’s failure to mention the democratic backsliding that has characterised Mr Modi’s presidency is symptomatic of his tendency to embrace leaders he regards as strongmen in his own image, in spite of the controversy that comes with them.

Flora said: “In meeting and praising these leaders, whose anti-democratic policies hugely restrict the freedom of their populations, Trump is not just giving them a legitimacy that they do not deserve, he is supporting a new, anti-democratic challenge to the world order.”

She went on to argue that: “Trump’s club of strongmen leaders spells trouble for the world order and the problems it faces in the 2020s. Modi, Orban and Putin have all exhibited varying levels of climate change denial, for example, which will make the kind of international action necessary to prevent the worst effects of climate change – already a tall order – near impossible.”

Modi, addressing a press conference on Tuesday, said of Trump: “At the global level, our relationship is dependent on the similar democratic values we share.” In the Article, Flora argued that in fact, the strong personal rapport between the two leaders is buoyed by their embrace of the populist strongman’s leadership playbook – spelling trouble for democracy.

You can read the full article here.

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