G7 Summit – Democracies VS Autocracies

Source – The Hindu

Syllabus – GS 2 – Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests.

Synopsis – The G7 and D10 are not idealistic alliances to spread democracy everywhere

Introduction 

• India, along with Australia, South Korea, and South Africa, has been invited as guest countries to the G7 Cornwal Summit by the UK.
• The theme for this year’s summit is Build Back Better.
• At this summit, the US president lay out his vision that democracies should unite against authoritarianism.
• However, every democratic power has some authoritarian allies.

Biden’s Manichean vision 

• According to the US president, the world is at an inflection point between those who believe autocracy is the ideal form of government and those who believe democracy is.

Message behind of G7 Cornwall summit 

• Democracies around the world should work together–
  • This is one of the reasons to invite Australia, India, South Korea, and South Africa as guest attendees to ensure that the message about team building by democracies went globally.
• A unified front against threats from China and Russia
  • Turning the G7 into a D10 alliance [by including Australia, India, and South Korea] as a bulwark against authoritarianism.

Should the US president’s call for a ‘summit of democracies’ and “contest with autocracies worldwide” be treated as hypocritical rhetoric?

Yes, like every democratic power have some authoritarian partners, for example-

• South Korea, although being a democracy and a US ally, is apprehensive of joining a formal D10 or Quad-plus alliance since its economy is linked with China’s.
• India also cannot afford to alienate friendly undemocratic powers like Vietnam, Iran, or Russia, which are vectors for India’s ambitions to become a leading power in the world, by joining a grouping like D10.
• In West Asia, the United States’ allies are typically autocratic
• European nations continue to support dictatorships in Africa for their own benefit.

Way forward

• The G7 and D10 are not idealistic alliances to spread democracy everywhere. The alliance should strive for a balance of moral convictions, geostrategic demands, and the complexities of today’s multipolar world order.