Getting Back to the Roots of Nihilism and Cynicism in Modern Democracies: How to Rebuild Trust?

Clara H. Whyte, Executive Director, Paideia Mundi, Economist and Political Scientist

Abstract presented and accepted to the 5th International Conference on Public Policy (ICPP5), Barcelona, 2021; International Public Policy Association; Theme 1. Policy Process Theories; Panel 8. Rebuilding Public Trust in Policy Making Processes Under Complexity

Over the past few centuries, economic liberalism has been growing in prestige and progressively expanding across the globe. While we cannot deny that it has – to some extent – contributed to the development of scientific and technological innovations which have the potential to greatly enhance human wellbeing, we are also forced to realize that it has led to many social and political abuses, and that the vast majority of humanity is still far from leading the life to which it has the right to aspire.

In fact, many political philosophers from leftist Karl Marx to conservative Leo Strauss have pointed out that economic liberalism had led to a degradation of moral and political values, and broken the traditional solidarity networks on which old-regime societies relied, leading to more distress and helplessness than ever before, not to mention environmental destructions and predation.

This reality reflects in a huge breach of trust in many countries between the political Establishment and the majority of the population.

In fact, economic liberalism has been accompanied by a gross misuse of the concept of “liberal democracy” in which from the French revolution to many current regimes, we have been told that political power is in the hands of the “people”, when it in fact never has been the case. The French revolution, for example, only substituted one oligarchy (nobility) with another oligarchy (bourgeoisie).

However, since the power was supposed to have shifted to the majority, “liberal democracy” became a good argument to suppress almost all forms of responsibilities that the previous oligarchy had towards the rest of the population in terms of social support. In fact, since we were suddenly all equal, we all had the same chances and opportunities. That meant that those who remained in poverty were responsible for their own fate, and had to cope with its consequences on their own. It other words that led to some forms of “social Darwinism” which consequences we can still witness today.

That means that “liberal democracy” has been from the very beginning based on some sort of duplicity if we compare it with other political regimes in the sense that it pretends that the majority holds the balance of power when it does not, and when the oligarchy possibly has more power and less responsibilities towards the rest of society than ever before.

This duplicity obviously leads to some sort of nihilism and a breach of trust in political institutions as the rest of the population gradually becomes aware of it, and becomes cynical towards any type of political engagement. 

In this article, we shall rely on strong theoretical bases to get back to the roots of this huge breach of trust in modern democracies as well as on its consequences on political action and engagement not only in Western countries but also in some “developing” countries. We shall also look into some potential solutions to restore trust and implement real “democratic” regimes as a barrier to the rise of extremisms, divisions and new forms of totalitarianisms.

Clara H. Whyte is an economist and a political scientist. She holds two Master’s degrees, including one from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po Paris). She has been working in her field for more than 20 years in Canada and internationally. She speaks fluently French, English, Portuguese and Spanish. She also has an advanced level in German and an intermediate level in Mandarin Chinese (HSK 4). What’s more, she is learning Quechua (the most widely spoken Indigenous language in the Americas), as well as Sanskrit and Russian. She is the Executive Director of Paideia Mundi, a non-profit organization dedicated to putting forward an ethics of political thought and action that is respectful of all human and living beings on the planet, this thanks to the promotion of world cultures and humanities. Very well versed in political philosophy, she currently focuses her research on the issues surrounding ethical leadership and political regimes.