The ongoing war in Ukraine, between freedom and totalitarianism,
has been brewing since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989: the
great victory of liberal democracy over communism. In recent
decades, authoritarian regimes have proliferated or become
emboldened – from Myanmar and North Korea to Venezuela, Saudi
Arabia and, of course, China. At the same time, we have seen wildly
overpriced stock markets, the emergence of decentralised finance
and its associated cryptocurrencies, and the idolization of
inordinately expensive things, from watches and customised trainers
to rare whiskies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The decoupling of
capitalism from democracy, which gathered pace in the 1990s, has
fostered an economic system powered by greed alone, able to prosper
in brutal dictatorships, unchecked even by the financial crisis of
2007/8. Rampant inequality, fuelled by radically increased money
supply, has been the result, with a tiny fraction of the world’s
population owning more than the rest put together. This inequality
has incited social unrest and contributed to the undermining of
faith in the institutions of the democratic state. The citizens of
Western democracies have been left to the mercy of unfettered
capitalism, becoming data subjects, endlessly surveilled,
marshalled and polarised. Today’s extreme capitalism, promoted by
Milton Friedman and others, is exemplified by its modern
monopolists – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon
Musk, whose fortunes have been built on often immoral, if not
illegal actions, and whose headline-grabbing antics appear to be
motivated more by ego than any genuine desire to do good for
humanity. In the 1990s, an understanding of social justice and an
appreciation of democracy still survived, but public discourse has
grown increasingly polarised and angry. The authors draw a line
from the robber barons of the 1990s tech revolution to Putin’s
invasion of Ukraine, citing the marginalisation of democratic
principles which has enabled the rise of authoritarian populists
such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Jair Bolsonaro and, of course,
Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. An unanticipated fightback in
Ukraine, with support from the EU and the West, has the potential
to reclaim the lost spirit of freedom inherent in liberal
democracy, but will it be enough?
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