USA: One to Zero for Democracy | The world | DW

The well-known Bulgarian political scientist Evan Krastev analyzed the storming of the Capitol by supporters of Trump in an interview with Deutsche Welle: “American democracy survived Donald Trump, but the image that the world created for American democracy so far did not last.”

So is the United States still suitable as a democratic model for other countries? The answer to this could hardly be any different. In Russia, for example, the United States was a kind of democratic ideal after the collapse of the Soviet Union. “At that time, the United States was an example for us,” Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Center in Moscow told DW.

In the early 1990s, many Russians believed that everything in the United States was better than it was in Moscow. Over the years, doubts about the model have grown, “even among liberal forces,” said the think-tank expert, who previously also worked for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Since the election of Donald Trump, the American model has faded. With Trump winning, the Kremlin saw his vision of the world as certain, according to which the United States could not be a model for other countries. Consequently, the Trump supporters’ storming of Congress, so Pawnoff, reinforced the negative image of Americans among many Russians. An image that was also formed by “suspicious” US military interventions in the world.

‘Institutions have their own ownership’

Peter Amon, former Minister of State at the German Foreign Ministry and from 2011 to 2014 also ambassador to the United States of America, sees it completely differently. He was also shocked by the attack on the symbols of American democracy. But the decisive factor is how the “battle” finally ends.

“Democratic institutions that are more than 200 years old have their own role,” he analyzes in an interview with DW. Ultimately, Congress decided to recognize Joe Biden’s election victory. “The institutions withstood the attack,” the diplomat said.

The United States continues to be “the foundation of the West.” Ammon notes that the number of authoritarian regimes is increasing all over the world. The former German ambassador to Washington expects that the photos of the storming of the Capitol will shape the term of incoming President Biden. Conflict intensified between different social groups.

Rep. Dagmar Freitag said social polarization was present even before Donald Trump was elected. The Social Democrat politician is one of the leading American experts on the German Bundestag. Four years ago, discontent with politicians was “broadcast” in Washington with the election of Trump.

Democracy “did not fail”

He said on Friday that the president had led his country into a precipice. Millions of people will remember the photos of the Capitol riots. You talk about “the failure of the state.” She believes that it will be difficult for the United States to “remain a pioneering country that embodies democratic values.” The United States will have to hard-won the claim to be a role model.

Despite all the criticism, the American expert, Britta Waldschmidt, warns Nelson against talking about “the failure of the Western model of democracy.” The opposite is true, says Professor of the History of the European Transatlantic Cultural Zone at the University of Augsburg.

Because at the end of the day, American democracy and its institutions would have retained their own capabilities. Finally, Biden’s choice has been confirmed. “Even under the strongest hostility from the populists and the angry mob, democracy has proven itself,” she concluded. However, one risk remains that many Americans threaten to lose faith in the functioning of their system.