Practically every aspect of U.S. foreign policy in the last few decades has been dominated by two ideals: the establishment of America’s liberal order and the promotion of its democratic values. From wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, to its establishment of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) – headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany – the U.S. has justified its actions overseas under the guise that it is the arbiter of world democratic values, which it has a duty to promote and protect beyond its borders.
As Americans head to the polls today, there is a cloud of unknowing hanging over the outcome of the election – mostly because President Trump has, over the last few weeks, increasingly raised the claim that the election will be marred by fraud.
Following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Pennsylvania’s deadline for the receipt of absentee ballots, Trump falsely claimed that the decision would open the floodgates for widespread voter fraud and violence. Against the backdrop of Trump’s refusal to state categorically that he would accept defeat should he lose to his opponent – former Vice President Joseph Biden – this raises an unprecedented prospect. Indeed, surely such thoughts are meant to be the preserve of African countries, or other parts of the world, where the U.S. has traditionally worked to ‘teach’ what it means to be democratic.
In contrast, Vice President Biden ended his campaign on Monday by promising to be a unifying president should he be elected. Nevertheless, one would be apt to wonder if the U.S. might not have degenerated into more chaos than ever imagined by inauguration day in January 2021. The lasting controversy over the 2000 election, between Al Gore and President George W. Bush, would certainly pale in significance should election-related violence become part of the Trump administration’s already degraded legacy.
Other concerns also abound, ones that the U.S. seems to be copying from ‘lesser’ democracies around the world. For example, American citizens are now choosing between two candidates – Trump aged 74, and Biden 77; this means that whoever emerges victorious will be the first president in the country’s history who is over the age of age of 75. This again raises a fundamental question of whether the U.S. is on a fast track of ‘learning’ from Africa, which had previously seemed to own the notoriety of electing leaders – nearly all of them men – who are older than vast majorities of their populations (and ought to be retiring).
Whatever the outcome of this American election, it is clear that a number of myths about its place as the champion of democratic values are being shattered. America’s ranking in Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World Index, for example, while still classifying the country as ‘Free’ with a score of 86/100, there are countries like Ghana at 83 and South Africa at 79, that are catching up and not so far behind in light of America’s evident decline.
The Freedom House ranking — among other global evaluations of democracy — shows that there are indeed other countries that can rightly claim to be champions and promoters of democratic values, thereby filling the void that the Trump administration has left. Looking on the bright side, this is a positive development, especially if the United States continues its freefall should things turn out the way Trump himself is predicting.
Mimi Mefo Takambou is a veteran Cameroonian journalist currently working as a freelancer for Deutsche Welle. She is also the founder of Mimi Mefo Info and has won several awards for her work, including the 2019 Freedom of Expression Award presented by the Index on Censorship. Despite being arrested by Cameroon authorities in 2018 for reporting on the country’s ongoing Anglophone crisis, she continues to cover critical topics of interest for both domestic and international audiences.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Vanguard Africa or the Vanguard Africa Foundation.