A Crisis for U.S. Democracy has Cascading Global Impacts
This report explores parallels between the current democratic crisis in the U.S. and not only Nazi Germany, but also the swift fall from grace of former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss. GRI’s Lois Tullo highlights mass vote suppression, loss of confidence in elections, executive overreach and the systematic dismantling of key regulatory agencies as indicators that American democracy could be in peril.
The report recalls how the Truss government’s economic mismanagement panicked UK markets and led to an existential crisis. Tullo wonders aloud if the current U.S. administration is approaching a similar moment of reckoning, promising sweeping changes amid soaring debt, with questionable financial backing and no public consensus. She also points to strong historical links between how the U.S. administration is using legal means to undermine democratic checks and balances, and how Hitler dismantled Germany’s democratic institutions from within.
Tullo proceeds to outline potential global consequences of this U.S. democratic crisis, including a loss of confidence in U.S. leadership, global market volatility, an increased risk of foreign interference in elections, and a spillover loss of social cohesion in other states, including Canada. She also outlines specific risks for Canada’s financial markets, including trade disruptions, regulatory uncertainty and a loss of investor confidence.
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