M.K. Narayanan

M.K. Narayanan is a former National Security Adviser and a former Governor of West Bengal

AMERICA’S DIVIDE AND BEYOND

• COMPETITION BETWEEN IDEOLOGUES : The existence of acutely sharp divisions between liberals and conservatives, and the concept of endangering democracy in today’s world would hardly be correct.
• OLDEST DEMOCRACIES : The shenanigans(secret activity) currently taking place in the world’s oldest democracy, and efforts by Donald Trump, to negate the verdict of presidential elections is seen only in dictatorships.

IDEOLOGICAL DIVISION | SOURCES : PEW RESEARCH CENTER

• FAKE NEWS MENACE : The lack of sensibilities on the part of the U.S. authorities , while lecturing the world about the virtues of democracy, represent a new pole in the utilisation of fake news.
• SUPPORT SYSTEM : Clearly, Trumps support comes from a segment that has serious grievances against policies favoured by so called ‘liberal segments’, and in turn, the neglect of their interests.
• WAKE UP CALL : This is true of many other democracies as well and must be viewed as a wake-up call.
• IDENTITY THREATS : What is evident is that issues of identity, or threats to identity, are becoming an important issue in elections across democracies.

• MANIPULATION OF GRIEVANCES : By using psychometric techniques (a la Cambridge Analytica), and the use of ‘deep fakes’ made possible through Artificial Intelligence, further enhances the threat to current notions of democracy.

EUROPE’S PROBLEMS

• GRAPPLING PANDEMIC : Europe, grappling with a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, will need for instance, to reckon with the reality .
• UNDETERMINED DEAL : An uncertain Brexit will further damage the prospects of both the United Kingdom and Europe.
• RUSSIAN ENIGMA : Russia, under Vladimir Putin, remains an enigma, for despite its military strength and strategic congruence with China, its future appears increasingly uncertain.

• DISAPPEARING COHESION : All embracing secularism, with overweening emphasis on social cohesion, seems to be going out of the door in the face of new social and political challenges.

TERROR IS RETURNING

• GAINING POPULARITY : Terrorism is resurfacing, and with renewed vigour. The al-Qaeda is again becoming prominent.
• THE IS IN SYRIA : The IS, which many thought had been vanquished following the victories achieved in Syria and Iraq towards the end of 2018, has returned in full force.
• TRANSNATIONAL CHARACTER  : In recent weeks, it has carried out attacks in France — Paris and Nice — and in Austria (Vienna), a reminder of the transnational character of the threat it poses to democratic countries.
• NEW TERRORISM : They combine symbolism with spectacular violence.
• MANIPULATION OF INFORMATION : Events of misinformation to achieve certain desired ends are becoming the stock-in-trade of many a democratic regime as well.
• CROPPING THE DATA : Many democratic nations today resort to manipulating data to support or prop up the state’s version of events.

THE ISSUES IN INDIA

• AGITATIONS : Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is witnessing a kind of surface calm, but beneath this there are evident tensions.
• LARGE SCALE INFILTRATION : Pakistan’s efforts to push in terrorists in ever larger numbers, leading to large scale casualties, specially among the Indian Army and security forces personnel.
• GUPKAR ALLIANCE : At the political level, in J&K, new equations are being forged for further confrontation, as evidenced by the setting up of the seven party People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration.
• SINO INDIA RELATIONS : The downward spiral in its relations with China has not been arrested.
• COMMERCIAL EXCLUSION : The RCEP, which covers almost a third of the world’s economy, is perceived as the springboard for future economic recovery across the region.