Conversations Tocqueville: "How to transform the evils of the West into political projects?"

On January 6, 2021, supporters of Donald Trump gathered by the thousands in Washington for the “Save America” demonstration

.

Exalted by the accusations of the Republican president, who has repeatedly said that "

the election was stolen from him

" by Joe Biden, demonstrators enter the Capitol to try to block the end of the electoral process. Symbol of the climate of violence which reigns in the United States, this event constitutes a "

major fracture in the history of American democracy

", estimates Laure Mandeville. Major reporter at

Le Figaro

, it organizes the Conversations Tocqueville, where intellectuals, business leaders and politicians are present, who have come to debate the future of liberal democracies, in particular shaken by populism.

While a majority of Republican voters still refuse to recognize the legitimacy of Joe Biden's election, which took place on November 3, 2020, the tension is palpable on the round table which brings together Uriel Epshtein, executive director of the Renew Democracy Initiative, an American organization that promotes and defends liberal democracy in the United States and abroad; and Jason Miller, spokesperson for President Trump and founder of Gettr, a conservative social network that refuses any moderation of political talk. The first believes in the ideal of liberal democracy, the second wants to make visible the aspirations of the "

angry white people

".

Present at their side, the political scientist and director of the Foundation for Political Innovation (Fondapol), Dominique Reynié, believes that if Donald Trump has perfectly embodied the populist phenomenon, he has only responded to a deep demand from the people.

This populism which operates on both sides of the Atlantic is the symptom of the failure of the policies of the first decades of the 21st century, develops the philosopher Yascha Mounk.

Thus, the election of Donald Trump, Brexit, the hardening of the positions of the Hungarian and Polish governments, or even the accession of Marine Le Pen to the second round of the French presidential election in 2017, forces us to wonder about the upheavals affecting the Western world.

Management of migratory flows

First, the rise of the populist phenomenon is explained by the concern of the populations regarding immigration and security, analyzes the director of Fondapol.

In 2016, the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made the construction of a “

large and beautiful concrete wall

” to “

physically

”

separate

Mexico from the United States as his flagship measure. He promises to protect Americans from "

violent criminals

", the influx of drugs and the surge of migrant caravans. "

Donald Trump was responding to a real concern of the populations of the southern United States, where the border with Mexico was extremely porous

", testifies Laure Mandeville, then correspondent for

Le Figaro

in Washington.

While the European public debate has been slow to recognize the role played by immigration and integration issues in the political disintegration of our societies, the 2015 attacks reinforced fear and fueled the anger of part of the population. .

"

The fear that grips Europeans is the basis of the success of a populism which, by its potential power, can win over our democracies and Europe if its causes remain ignored by public decision

", warns Dominique Reynié.

Social networks, full-fledged media?

The digitization of the world and the emergence of social networks constitute a new relationship with others and with society. These new media, thanks to which everyone can express their opinions, are often violent and the nuance is rarely expressed, develops the philosopher Chantal Delsol, present to animate a debate during the second day of discussions. "

These are people without resources who blame the elites who hold it,

" she said.

Platforms in fact overturn traditional logics of power and governance. From Donald Trump's digital ban from Twitter following the events on Capitol Hill, to Mark Zukerberg's protest against an Australian law to force Facebook and Google to enter into licensing deals with the country's media groups, to the creation of a "Supreme Court" by Facebook to receive complaints from users, examples abound. Digital technology is becoming a new geopolitics, allowing its norm to be surreptitiously imposed. At the French level, the revolt of the yellow vests also showed that a Facebook “event” could bring together thousands of demonstrators in the streets of Paris, for several consecutive weeks.This reversal of the relationship to power affects institutions and citizens more than ever.

Of course, an open society has more flaws than an authoritarian regime. But if it legitimizes in principle any dispute and accepts criticism, at the very cost of its internal cohesion, its strength lies in its ability to absorb contradictions, argued jointly Jacob Siegel, editor-in-chief of Tablet and Richard Miniter, director of Zenger. Press. Convinced that the traditional media have not said their last word, Fabrice Fries, director of Agence France Presse (AFP), is working to restore public confidence. He promises to "

tell the facts by presenting all the points of view

" to convince "

those who still doubt

".

Faced with these primordial issues, the speakers of these two days of debates hope that the liberal democracies will take into account the discomforts which run through the West to transform them into political projects. The years to come will be decisive. If Joe Biden fails to restore social peace by listening to the concerns of his fellow citizens, who knows what political future awaits the West?