When Partners Find no More Consent...

"When partners find no more consent,
Their business isn't worth a cent.
Nobody works, but strives to strike
Like a union of Crayfish, Swan and Pike."

This is almost my (I just improved the variant I had found on-line) loose translation of the quatrain from famous fable of Ivan Krylov, which describes in the best way the state of modern democracy for me - whether it is European Union, USA, Great Britain, World Health Organization or United Nations.


On February 13, 2021 a new unity government of Italy was sworn in. A new prime minister - Mario Draghi is former and highly successful President of the European Central Bank (2011-2019). He has undeniable credibility as a practicing economist who for example kept the euro stable during the European Debt Crisis in 2009-2013. At least a famous American economist Paul Krugman called him for that "... (arguably) the greatest central banker of modern times".

Well, thank God, now first-class economist got his place at the helm of the country and everything's going to be all right in Italy now.
No, it won't.
Because Mario Draghi will not be so much busy with boosting of Italy's economy and fighting the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic (which he can probably manage), but actually searching a consensus with his political opponents in the complexities of Italian democracy. He will have his hands tightly tied and not be able to realize the aspirations of Italians for improvements.

On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the new U.S. president.
Like Mario Draghi in Italy, Joe Biden in the US will not be able to carry out his generally correct program (fighting climate change, working with allies, reducing economic inequality and slowing down the coronavirus pandemic at home).

The US is split in two along the Democrats-Republicans line - popular vote for Joe Biden in 2020 was 51,3% (versus Donald Trump's 46,9%) and Electoral College voting was respectively 306 votes (56,9%) vs 232 (43,1%). The Republicans lost the presidential election and have already begun to sabotage the decisions of the Biden administration.

Democrats now have also a very fragile majority in Senate (50 Democratic senators + vice president Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote), however in order to put the best plan into practice the consent of most of the citizens (and government leaders) of the country is needed. Then the country moves and not stagnates. It is very difficult just to formulate the correct plan, let alone putting it into practice. And how to implement the best plan if almost half of the country will on principle oppose any Biden's plan?

This is a real split of the nation and it is not a fault of just former President Trump, but the entire US elite.


Italy is also split from within like the US, but into several medium-sized pieces which only exacerbates the democratic mess - since the end of World War II Italy has had 66 governments, at an average of one every 1.14 years.

Italians are used to make decisions by the majority rule (50%+) like many other democracies do. This rule now plays against democratic countries and organizations that apply democracy mindlessly, not paying attention to the fact that the remaining (50%-) voters are basically against. That's why different democracies in the world stall and do blatantly silly things like Brexit or the attempt of secession of Catalonia from Spain in 2017.

As long as these inner splits exist (which many nations have yet to realize), the countries will stand still which means degradation in today's dynamic world. That's why the US is so much concerned recent times about China's growing influence in the world.
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Modern democracy in most countries and all international organizations seems to become a swamp with dirty stagnant water. I have often seen how it worked in Ukraine when different parties (usually they are projects of different oligarchic groups) were lobbying for opposite interests and no decisions - neither right nor wrong - could pass through just because they had to be endlessly coordinated with political opponents who pursued their (usually mercenary) interests. So in the end, the whole country is polarized and thus paralyzed, unnoticeably degenerates and this can last for decades.

It's as simple as that.
"When partners find no more consent, their business isn't worth a cent".



P.S. Dear Reader! I am very much interested in your opinion on the subject of this article. Please, write a comment or ask a question if you want to clarify something.
Yours,
Igor Chykalov