Gouveia e Melo says democracy is not inevitable and must be defended

Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Enrique Gouveia e Melo warned on Monday that democracy is not inevitable and must therefore be protected and promoted.

“Democracy is not inevitable. We must protect her. It needs to be nurtured and supported,” said Gouveia and Melo in Porto de Mos (Leiria) as part of the conference “A World Divided Between Autocracies and Democracies”, part of the 50th anniversary cycle on April 25th.

In the admiral’s words, “If democracies fail to present a convincing argument about the importance of political freedoms, or if citizens become disillusioned with the way they are governed, a new generation of autocrats will be very ready to step in and take the reins of power into their own hands.” .

“If they succeed, the world will become more cruel, corrupt and life-threatening,” he warned.

In a speech where he spoke about the end of the Cold War, Gouveia y Melo noted that “the collapse of ideological frames of reference, some of the negative effects of globalization and a harmful set of international policies have revived dormant nationalisms and split the identity and religious extremism in the society of the International.”

“Democratic governments are perhaps no more connected to the world than autocracies, but it is well known that democracies rarely go to war with each other,” he noted, then turning to the geopolitical and geostrategic framework, the resurgence of autocracies, and the problems of democracy. .

According to Gouveia y Melo, “the onslaught of authoritarian regimes has raised concerns about the weakening of democratic institutions, the erosion of civil rights, and the threat to freedom of the press,” noting that “reflecting a shift in the balance of financial power, autocracies are increasingly funding democracies, which is worrisome because Western economies depend on capital flows from China and the Gulf states.”

In the opinion of the Chief of Staff of the Navy, in the context of international cooperation problems, “the rivalry between democracies and autocracies presents serious problems” because “in an increasingly polarized world, cooperation on global issues has become more difficult, and nations are less and less willing to work together in such areas, like trade, security and the environment.”

Gouveia y Melo also stressed that “the Russian invasion of Ukraine has generated the most unity and urgency among democracies in the last 40 years”, meaning that “Western democracies have united around common values” such as freedom of expression, protection of human rights and the defense of the democratic regime.

On the other hand, “autocratic countries such as Russia and China position themselves as an alternative to the Western democratic model, offering their own revisionist vision of political and economic development” to emphasize that “a new Cold War is not inevitable.” .

However, “collaboration between democracies and autocracies on global issues such as the fight against terrorism, the climate crisis and the covid-19 pandemic” could help reduce tensions between the blocs.

The chief of staff of the navy added that “Portugal, as a nation-state, small and limited in its relative power in uniting nations, must bear in mind when formulating its policy that the world is not and does not appear to be moving towards global peace”, given that “no international legal system ‘on its own’ will fully protect Portugal’s interests.”

“Portugal will not be free from being drawn, given the coalitions it belongs to, the position and space it occupies geographically and its interests, into a more central and hot zone of conflict” between the two blocs, he added.