Democracy deemed to be under growing pressure
October 1st, 2019A leading Hungarian economist of the IMF and the World Bank predicts that discontent with democratic capitalism will increase, and people will turn against the ‘elites that betrayed them’.
On Portfolio, IMF and World Bank expert Péter Holtzer predicts that capitalism and democracy will come under new pressure. Holtzer contends that the world has used up a huge chunk of the economic and ecological resources of future generations. Since the 2000s and even more after the 2008 financial crisis, he writes, inequality has been on the rise, while middle class prosperity has declined. As people lose their middle-class status, they become increasingly angry with the ‘elites that betrayed them’, Holtzer predicts, adding that social tensions will be exacerbated by demographic decline and aging populations. As a result, much of the middle class will lose faith in democracy, he speculates. He thinks that democracies may soon be replaced by soft authoritarian regimes as a result of growing discontent with weak democratic governance which is unable to help the masses.
Tags: demography, economy