DISINFO: Democracy is the perfect dictatorship
SUMMARY
The only thing that liberal democracies can reproach to authoritarian models is that the latter do not hide their character because the former are often even more authoritarian with a display of socially accepted control mechanisms. So why do we continue to debate democracy or dictatorship and nothing else? Why can't models other than Western democracy be debated or accepted? Why has globalism created a socio-cultural and ideological bubble that cannot be punctured? Because democracy is a perfect dictatorship.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative denigrating democracy. By portraying liberal democracies as inferior to authoritarian systems, this disinformation message aims to deflect criticism on Russia’s increasingly authoritarian model despite its lack of freedoms, its persecution of opposition members and activists, its massive corruption, its economic stagnation and its declining living standards, through the false claim that democracies are even worse.
The mention of “models other than Western democracy” may be interpreted as a reference to Russia’s ‘managed democracy’, a system where there are elections that can’t be considered either free or fair and where tolerated opposition parties are not a threat to the uncontested power of the ruling party.
See other examples in our database, such as claims that authoritarian regimes are best at handling disasters, that studies show that China is more democratic than the US, or that democracy and freedom prevented Europe from fighting the coronavirus effectively.