(Dis)satisfaction with Government : Ramesh Shrestha

People everywhere seek liberal democracy and freedom which most governments are able to offer irrespective of type of government, including in centralised economies. As much as some people believe that there is no democracy and freedom in centralised economies, people in those systems of governance do enjoy their way of democracy and freedom, perhaps not to the extent many want or believe (subject to which news channel you listen to).

Irrespective of type of governance it has almost become habitual for people to complain against the government in most of the countries we are aware of. When friends and colleagues gather, the discussion generally turns into how dissatisfied people are with their government. The discussions generally focus into economic dissatisfactions especially among working class, terrorism, political upheavals, climate change and its impact on people, inability of the government to manage natural disasters, and so on. Such discussions are true across the board irrespective of political system.

According to research conducted in 27 countries with liberal democracy in 2019, only 45% of the people expressed their satisfaction with their government. People’s dissatisfaction was related largely to political corruption, politicians being out of touch with lives of average citizens and the election cycles being unable to change lives of the underclass.

Failure to communicate? 

Every government is undertaking numerous tasks to make the system work for people starting from keeping streets clean to making legislations for air quality, standard for drinking water to food safety, keeping people safe from harm and so on. The biggest task is to keep the country safe from likely conflicts. Is it likely that the governments simply do not know how to communicate? There are of course issues of not being able to meet all the commitments governments make. Meanwhile there is petty corruption involving few administrators which paints a bad image of the entire government. Many people also believe that the government is not transparent when spending people’s tax money and people feel the government is misusing citizen’s tax.

Hearing but not listening
There is also perception among majority of the people that the politicians are not seriously listening to people’s voices. Almost all countries have a four- or five-year election cycle with two to four major political parties contesting the rituals of election. It is becoming increasingly clear that most political parties are inward looking with an agenda for the survival of their party and their own survival first despite all the claims they make for the people and the country during the campaign. Agenda for the global issue is heard loud and clear such as taming greenhouse gases but does not rank anywhere close to the top of their agenda.

Given their short-term political objective the agenda is set for the duration of the election cycle with vague focus on the long term. The idea is to achieve some visible targets aiming at the next election. Such populist agenda is not going to resolve our deep underlying issues such as discrimination, deprivation, coverage with affordable health care, quality of education that would bring new educated people to the market, etc. These issues are often mentioned in passing in the election manifesto with no detailed plans of operation to achieve their targets, and if present are vague.

Leaders often pretend to listen to their constituencies and even participate but when they do, it is largely for photo ops. Once elected they have the authority to delegitimize things they don’t like or agree with and sometimes even those they have agreed to.

Majority of people seem dissatisfied with the way the economy is managed. There is also an opinion that political elites are corrupt and care little about the average citizens. People believe that even law and order are applied selectively – one set for the rich and powerful and a separate set for the rest.

Labour migration has become a sticky issue in many countries such as in Europe, Middle East and in the USA. Exploitation of migrants, human smuggling and human trafficking are discussed now and then but solutions are as elusive as ever. These issues have also given rise to far-right political views in several countries. No political party has a clear vision on how to manage the migrant issue. Many countries with dwindling birth rates do require additional helping hands but appear reluctant in supporting the influx of migrants. It is true that the inflow of migrants has to be streamlined but it requires housing, health care, social service and employment for which most governments have no clear roadmap. It has also become a bone of contention between the Right and the Left.

A new actor

All governments have constitutional provisions for press freedom and access to information to the general public in all countries. But the flourishing of social media with fake news and views has become like weeds in the free press and media world. Social media is important as several of these networks carry reliable news, and analysis of expert views which one may not find in the mainstream media which are controlled by the rich and powerful with their political agenda. Many people, especially young adults have become victims of social media leading to depression and anxiety. Many countries are facing crises due to undue influence of fake news and views in social media. No government has as yet any idea on how to manage this kind of ‘democratic social media’. It is more and more looking like ‘democratic media anarchy’ rather than ‘media democracy’.

It is also true that people pay more attention to sensational new rather than factual new report on the works of the government. It is also true that the objectivity and integrity of the mainstream media is questionable because of its reporting bias. The mainstream media is actually doing great disservice and even harm by misinforming and disinforming average citizens. Uninformed and misinformed citizens could become a liability to a country but it seems like the leaders do not care as their motto is just to remain in control and they need media support to achieve that. This is one reason why people who are aware of this mismatch dislike their leaders and by default their government.

All leader lies 

Politicians by default ask people to look at the brighter side, which is good. And in the process difficult and critical subject matters are often ignored at best and swept under the carpet for the next government to deal with. Many times, politicians lie either to boost their image or to promote an agenda or to hide something from people. And many times, they get away with it. It seems like there are no political consequences of lying so it continues. If our politicians are honest and have the best interest of their people at heart perhaps there will never be wars and conflicts. Or is it just a utopic thinking?

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Contact Ramesh : ramesh.chauni@gmail.com