A global shift of power to Asia poses a risk to democracy around the globe, Flávio Dino, Brazil’s justice minister, said Monday at the Lisbon Legal Forum, an event organized by a college owned by a Supreme Court justice and which attracts dozens of Brazilian power brokers every year.
Mr. Dino believes that a shift of power to Asia would upend the current Western hegemony. Most Asian countries, especially regional powers, have not established institutions that are “based on Western democracy,” and many of the governments are incompatible with Western democratic values, Mr. Dino said, adding that it is rare for countries in the region to hold elections or formally adopt multi-party systems.
According to Freedom House, an American think tank that assesses the state of freedom around the world, democratic values have been in decline worldwide for the past 17 years.
Mr. Dino’s boss, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, seems much less fazed by the rise of Asia than his justice minister. The president has defended a new world order that would give more geopolitical power to nations such as Brazil, India (which is undergoing a process of democratic backsliding as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tightens his grip on power), and China (which is a dictatorship).
Lula has been criticized for cozying up to authoritarian regimes — such as Russia, China, and Venezuela — while throwing jabs at traditional Western allies over the war in Ukraine. In recent weeks, Lula has veered from accusing the U.S. and the European Union of prolonging Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In Lisbon, Mr. Dino spoke of the strength of Brazil’s democratic institutions and expressed concern about extremism in the country and “the end of convergence to the center.” Mr. Dino believes that the rise of extremism comes as a “crisis of representation” grows more apparent in Brazil. He called for political reform to remedy this in order to preserve the nation’s democratic values.
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