~~ recommended by emil karpo ~~
A social contract is an implicit agreement by all members of a society to adhere to certain rules and norms, in exchange for shared benefits. Western populists, emulating Russian President Vladimir Putin, have subverted this fundamentally inclusive contract, creating instead a bargain based on exclusion and tribalism.
MOSCOW – Russia may no longer be the totalitarian society that my great-grandfather Nikita Khrushchev ruled six decades ago, but totalitarianism seemingly remains in its DNA. The Kremlin still invents its own reality, no matter how absurd or impossible, and demands the people’s credulity.
If war was peace in the Oceania of George Orwell’s 1984, President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” is practically a form of peacemaking in the Russia of 2022. The invasion of Ukraine on February 24 certainly was little cause for concern for Russia’s urban middle class, who continued to party like it was 2004 – the heyday of President Vladimir Putin’s oil- and gas-driven economic boom – as Russian tanks rolled across the border.
In fact, the surreal phony peace that Russia went through in the first six months or so after the invasion was hard to stomach. As Ukraine – the homeland of much of my family and a country of extraordinary beauty – was ruthlessly bombed, its capital encircled, and its people driven from their homes either to find refuge abroad or to fight for their country, ordinary Russians simply went about their lives.
Yes, sanctions brought some changes to the denizens of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Some luxury goods were removed from store shelves, and some Western chains closed their doors. But Russians could still enjoy enough things – enough of the toys and pleasures and luxuries to which they gained access after the Soviet Union’s collapse three decades ago – that the war remained distant. The violence next door was too trivial – or perhaps too important – for ordinary Russians to give it much thought. Let Putin take care of it, as he takes care of everything. See no evil, hear no evil, say nothing.
Lest any Westerner feel a sense of superiority, recall that a similarly blinkered, consumerist reverie has predominated in Western societies through countless conflicts, crimes, and improprieties, committed both at home and abroad. And today, many people in Western democracies are happy to enter into a morally bankrupt bargain with their leaders that has more than a little in common with the one seen in Russia.
When Donald Trump lied ceaselessly, made racist and anti-Semitic comments, feathered his own nest, and corrupted the Department of Justice, how hard did Americans resist? Yes, there were some protests, and Trump was eventually voted out of the White House. And a House committee continues to investigate his involvement in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
But Trump has retained the steadfast support of a large swath of Americans, including virtually the entire Republican Party establishment. The reason is simple: he gave them three right-wing Supreme Court justices (who have since overturned precedent after precedent, including the half-century-old decision legalizing abortion nationwide), pursued business-friendly deregulation
Similarly, the British let former Prime Minister Boris Johnson get away with delivering countless government contracts to unqualified cronies, not to mention showing utter contempt for parliament and the crown, for more than three years. All that mattered, apparently, was that he delivered Brexit.
In Poland, Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice government has cowed the courts and most of the country’s media. But it has also bought the practically slavish support of rural and poor voters with plentiful subsidies.
The transactional character of governance has become increasingly pronounced – and has increasingly fostered authoritarianism. We cast our votes to advance our tribe’s interests and values, not for the good of our country, let alone the world. And, in exchange for meeting constituents’ demands – financial, religious, ideological, or otherwise – a leader effectively receives permission to ride roughshod over democratic governance and ethical norms.
Because figures like Trump and Putin understand this, they pander to people’s material desires and stoke their fears. Indeed, just as Trump demonized Latin American immigrants, Putin has used the mere existence of transgender and non-binary people to justify his war on Ukraine, which he argues is necessary to resist the “dictatorship of the Western elites” that is attempting to “overthrow faith and traditional values.”
Hatred of a small minority can be a formidable political weapon. Few have wielded it so effectively since Joseph Goebbels.
The great advantage for populists is that their bargain with their constituents is fluid. If their political base falls prey to a new narrative or embraces a new cause, they simply change their position and claim that they were the first to hold it. Anyone who points to their contradictory record is a member of the “lying and corrupt media elite.”
The Ukraine war is a case in point. At its start, Putin-loving Trump loyalists – with the exception of some Fox News talking heads, such as Tucker Carlson – largely held their tongues. Trump went so far as to proclaim his opposition to Russia’s invasion, which he knew most Americans viewed as a barbaric act.
Today, Americans continue to tout Ukrainians’ heroism. But their commitment to helping them is waning. Many Republicans now say that US aid to Ukraine is costing too much, alleging that the US is providing a “blank check.” Trump’s “America First” slogan – which really means “America only” – retains its appeal.
The Russian middle classes seem increasingly to be stirring from their moral slumber on Ukraine, though it took the prospect of their own sons, fathers, and brothers being drafted – not the suffering of the Ukrainians – to awaken them. But this will do little to help Ukraine if a growing number of US Republicans shut their eyes and turn their backs.
A social contract is an implicit agreement by all members of a society to adhere to certain rules and norms in exchange for shared benefits. But populists prefer a bargain based on exclusion and tribalism, which is why they have embraced Putin as a model leader.
Putin’s recognition of the power of this approach to governance might be surprising, as he is not a man of deep reflection. Nor is Trump. Perhaps that is the most insidious aspect of the populist social contract under which too many of us now live: it is not based on thought at all, but rather on fear, humiliation, and alienation. These are the sentiments that perpetuate tyranny and fuel aggressive war.
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