After the Fall
Ben Rhodes
After 9/11 terror was ubiquitous throughout American society which led to the government over reacting and tarnishing American democracy. The fact that terrorists were able to do so much damage to American society was a terrifying prospect. As such, the government swiftly acted by passing the PATRIOT act, its very name proclaiming its nationalist roots. This act allowed the government to bypass a number of rights and do such things as holding people indefinitely and not requiring warrants to search a property which had both domestic and international effects. The immediate effect in the US was more nationalism and a decline in democracy. Abroad, aside from the negative effect on democracy that any decline in US democracy brings, the PATRIOT act served as a blueprint for other countries, such as Russia and China, to crack down on civil liberties.
A side effect of 9/11 was the nationalism that became pervasive throughout politics. A strong hate of ethnic muslims has spread across the country and politics. For example, during Obama’s campaign, Republican leaders resorted to spreading rumors that Obama was a Muslim, attempting to play on the hate that was prevalent. Furthermore, this was only one example of the us versus them narrative that replaced the globalist narrative of working together to make the world a better place. This can be seen in Trump, who campaigned on an “America First” policy. The idea of us vs them is very harmful to globalism, as it promotes fighting instead of cooperation.
Another thing that undermined globalism, specifically American lead globalism, was the 2008 financial crisis. With the USSR out of the picture, America rose to unparalleled heights as the world’s only superpower. However, international trust in America collapsed when its greed triggered a financial crisis. This was especially true because although America was able to haul itself out of the recession relatively quickly, it was harder for many other countries, specifically Europeans. This sent a message to countries around the world that America could not be trusted as a leader of global politics.
The US prioritized power over human rights and democracy when picking its allies, which had a negative impact on global democracy. This was especially prominent in the middle east, specifically in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and currently in Israel. In Egypt, which receives a large amount of defense funding from the US, the US has been too scared of losing an ally to support a democratic regime, instead opting to blindly support whoever is in power. Furthermore, the Egyptian government actively encourages terrorism in order to win more aid from the US. In Saudi Arabia, the US government provided aid to the Saudis for the war in Yemen, which other than leading to numerous atrocities, led to the Saudis using American technology to fight on the side of terrorists. Currently in Israel Netanyahu is using the fear from HAMAS to consolidate power and commit atrocities, which the US is funding. If the US had either funded democratic countries or used its influence to create them, it would have a strong base of democratic countries across the world, instead of allies who simply use the US for funding and like Saudi Arabia cast it aside after they find it no longer useful.
A large reason for the collapse of democracy across the world was the lack of emphasis on democracy’s importance. Democracy sustained itself in many countries throughout the cold war because it was emphasized as good while communism was bad. However, after the fall of the USSR, political education began to wane, leading to many people across the world forgetting the importance of democracy. Additionally, as terror and chaos began to spread across the world, many people surrendered their freedoms for safety. Therefore, although the cold war was over, it was still a mistake for countries to not educate their citizens on the benefits of democracy.
Sparked by 9/11, the US began to turn away from its democratic roots. Starting off by passing the PATRIOT act, the US gave away rights for security, a sign of a transition to authoritarianism. Furthermore, the US began to preach narratives of us versus them, and nationalism instead of cooperation. On a global scale, the 2008 financial crisis destroyed confidence in the US as a global leader. Additionally, as the US stopped propagating democracy in exchange for powerful allies, it lost out on the opportunity for a global democratic network. Finally, as the cold war was over, many people assumed that democracy would stay as the prevalent political philosophy, leading them to let down their guards to other forms of governance taking over.