Trial of liberal democracy

Homo sapiens, the only surviving member of the genus Homo, were weak, puny creatures without sharp claws, talons, or piercing canines, lacking all the characteristics of apex predators. Survival of the fittest through natural selection would have rendered humans extinct a long time ago. But humans found a loophole in nature: the phenomenon of group selection, whereby species with slim chances of surviving based on their individual characteristics gathered together to maximize security and group survival. Ever since, humans have sought the comfort and protection of groups and organized themselves into networks. Today, we have outnumbered all other species on planet Earth due to our ability to develop vast networks of communication based on trust.

From Cave to Cape: Expanding the Network of Trust

In the beginning, social interactions were heavily dominated by kinship ties. Only those who shared your blood or cave could be trusted. Hunter-gatherers soon had to transition to pastoral and agricultural modes of living. Accordingly, humans changed their social and ecological niches, which required them to expand their network of trust beyond their kin.

“Trust is an invisible social cohesive force, often originating from shared pasts, traditions, values, rituals, and stories, that makes social life possible.”

It is, in fact, trust that makes us social animals in the true sense. This same trust, over time, became codified into institutions, which are nothing but recurring patterns of social behavior. From the earliest institutions of family, property, and inheritance to modern public and private institutions, humans have come a long way, and so has the trust that made all this possible. The digital age of disruption and misinformation has affected our inherent ability to trust the very institutions we created to regulate those recurring patterns. The result is a worldwide trend of public distrust in institutions, especially political ones, including the state. In the U.S., the flag bearer of liberal democracy, a survey reported a decline of 17% trust in Congress, a 20% decline in the Supreme Court, and a whopping 26% decline in the institution of the presidency in just 24 years.

Going Down the Rabbit Hole: Drivers of the Declining Trend

Trust can be horizontal or vertical, and unfortunately, both are declining worldwide and in Pakistan. The question arises: what could be the driving force behind the rising distrust among people all over the world when we are the very creators of these institutions to begin with? Political scientists believe that trust is a function of evident restraint and evident competence. Competence is simply the ability to do one’s core work, whatever it is. Vertical distrust is rising because the elites, politicians, and institutions, especially in the context of Pakistan’s political life, have failed to back their claims with stringent actions. They have not proven that they serve the interests of society at large but are rather seen as indifferent to public grievances, pursuing their interests via holding political offices.

Similarly, trust develops not just because a particular person or institution has more skills than I do, but due to the belief that they are bound by institutional codes, conduct, and structural boundaries that they will not cross. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. For example, in Pakistan, every elite and institution has become politicized, busy with political scoring, and if vested with even the tiniest authority, is dragged into political debate. They can’t be trusted to do what they are supposed to do; rather, they are seen as doing a bit of everything. Our institutions no longer provide restraints on the individuals within to protect the larger public interest but have been reduced to platforms for individuals to elevate themselves in social ladders and gain prominence in the corridors of power.

“Institutions are more like a stage now, where officials stand, brandish themselves, and yell out the issues of the day. They are platforms for performance rather than work.”

Currency of Political Life: Importance of Trust

People’s trust in anything—be it a system, institutions, or the state itself—is the secret ingredient for a free society because it’s essential to understand that political institutions are there to serve us and pursue the interests of society as a whole. It’s critical for a free society because only in such a society does the general will of the people rule.

Trust is mandatory for democracy to function; for any of us to submit ourselves to the democratic majority, it’s pertinent that we believe there are structures and institutions to protect us from the abuse of majority rule and that whatever these institutions do will be in the common interest. This “us,” “we”—the first plural pronoun—is the glue that binds us together and makes us part of a larger group. People have lost the ability to be part of the “in-group” or to use the first plural pronoun when we talk about society, the state, or institutions. In Pakistan’s political life, this has initiated a new war of “us” vs. “them.” The institutions are no longer seen as serving “us”; rather, they are perceived as serving the interests of the elites and politicians, the “them.” These institutions are believed to be empowering “them,” not “us.” The sense of isolation, alienation, and an environment of conspiracies, which are considered mysterious symptoms of a social crisis we are going through, are, in fact, the underlying causes of this loss of trust in institutions.

Declining trust in our institutions will affect citizens in unprecedented ways. On the individual level, studies show that distrust, whether horizontal or vertical, increases the risk of premature death from social disconnection by up to 60% and is comparable to smoking daily. It will affect not just the body politic but individuals as well. We are already experiencing negative externalities like the loneliness epidemic, a rise in violence, and extremism. On a societal level, rising distrust further exacerbates the situation by ill-equipping us to solve problems that require interdependence, cooperation, and coming together as a whole, such as the climate crisis, social inequalities, and poverty.

“When we are atomized, when we are alone, we are vulnerable and unable to create a compartment, a platform to contain and understand the problem in its essence.”

Distrust has compromised our ability to make judgments because we are exposed to all forms of information, propaganda, and lies about lies on social media. It creates bewilderment in the public mind and urges us to sift through the gray and black lies, which is not only time-consuming but also causes cognitive exhaustion.

“In this era of bits and bots, we are living inside echo chambers, and no one bothers to filter and sift through all the information we see and hear, nor do we have the time for that.”

Political psychologists believe that this will be rampant and will not stop there; it will compromise individuals’ ability to make judgments about information, leading to a sort of cognitive degeneration. Moreover, these social disconnections also lead to a willingness to adopt false information and disrupt the way we resolve conflicts. For example, people now doubt the justice system because they are not sure if bias is involved or if the institutions can be trusted. Apart from that, it has also produced large-scale political polarization and a general uncertainty about how political or public institutions are supposed to behave and work.

To conclude, people learn more from pictures and stories than from facts and stats because a filter bubble is hard, if not impossible, to maintain in this digital age of disinformation, where everything is reduced to clicks. Changing these images in people’s minds and aiming for a holistic restoration of public trust in institutions will not come overnight; it will rather take much more time. Experimentation with liberal democracy is the only way forward. Large-scale structural reforms, the introduction of newer and innovative models of co-democracy, with a focus on participatory budgeting, people’s assemblies, increased transparency, and enhanced accountability can help us restore our lost trust in institutions. There is also a dire need to insert hooks and levers in decision-making, ensuring that these institutions are used for the same purpose they were created for: the common good. The responsibility falls more on the media regarding how it presents this monolith—the state and its institutions—either as a monster or a messiah. The issue is grave, not just affecting individuals but society and the world as a whole, and it could soon become existential.